First Class: Case A
by Sam.HoranTurtleDuck
Summary: Charles and Erik take another mutant out of the prison where Alex was locked in. Rose Antonelli is a peculiar case. She is an unnerving and mysterious girl who definitely hides something behind the robe on her face. What is it? What is her mutation that only Charles seems to know? [Not very good with summaries, but check it out. Starts with First Class]
1. Chapter 1

"And, now, where is he taking us?" Erik Lehnsherr asked his partner.

Both young adults had been recruiting new members for the new CIA mutant division. A strip tease dancer and a taxi driver had been the latest addition to their team. Alex Summers, a boy that had chosen to be locked up in jail by himself, had just accepted to go with them and was waiting for his new mutant fellows in their automobile. However, after Lehnsherr and Xavier arranged the paperwork to take Alex out of his confinement, the young telepath (who had had a private conversation with the person in charge of prison), addressed the prison mananger and said:

"The next one."

The prison mananger nodded.

"Follow me, gentlemen."

Now, Erik was looking at Charles with curiosity. The prison mananger was walking in front of them, but far enough so they could talk privately.

" 'First guy I'be ever met who actually prefers solitary confinement'. That's what he said, Erik." Charles answered even though he was looking to the front. "Guy is the keyword. We are taking another "one" with us today." He gave Erik a sideglance "But, she is a girl."

Before Erik could process this new information he said:

"Why didn't you tell me before? I though you said we came here for Summers…"

"I'm afraid I wasn't confident enough to think it would be easy to take a person out of prison, even less two." After this, he lowered his voice "I saw her in Cerebro and I'd been thinking a lot about what we should do about her. Alex… it was easy to make him come with us, Erik. I…I think we can also take her out."

Erik nodded, a little bit annoyed that Charles didn't inform him before about this other mutant, but decided to let it go, since he was more excited with the idea of another mutant in their team.

"What can she do?"

"I'm not so sure. She was the last one I found in Cerebro. My mind was a little blurry but if she can do what I think she can, then it would be better if you see it by yourself."

Erik didn't argue at all, he trusted Charles.

The prison mananger finally stopped in front of a door. He turned to both man and lowered his voice as they were reaching him.

"She… she is dangerous" He said, while he was taking out a key and pressing some buttons in the control panel by a metal door. "When she came here, my guys underestimated her." He shivered like if the simple memory scared him. "I was on call that day, but they said she…"

Charles raised his palmed and the man stopped talking. Charles wasn't using his ability but his presence was strong enough to make the man stop with his story. The man slowly opened the door and said:

"You have visitors."

Charles and Erik walked into the room and heard when the man closed the metal door and locked it up. Eric was specially interested in this last thing, but when he returned his eyes to Charles he remembered the reason why they were there.

"Who are you?" A trembling voice coming from the contrary end of the room said. "What do you want?" Before any of them could answer the voice said: "How did you know about me?"

"You mean your mere existence, or…?" A confused Erik from the sight he had in front of him asked.

It wasn't what he had expected. Charles didn't look surprised but by a quick glance at him, Erik knew that Charles was watching as much as he could inside of the lady's mind. So, he decided to give Charles time.

He saw how Charled had treated Alex before, so he thought he could just mimicked him. But it wasn't as easy to talk to this girl as it had been with Alex. There was something… unnerving about her.

She was covered up. Literally, she was totally covered up! Angel Salvadore, the mutant dancer had been wearing clothes just to keep the most important parts of her body out of sight. This girl was wearing some kind of robe Erik had only seen in his travels around the world in some muslim women. The girl was wearing what seemed to be a blackish brown dress, but it covered everything of her, except her eyes.

Black eyes. Big black eyes.

Erik felt a little bit suffocated as he watched her eyes. They weren't dark brown eyes, no. They were unhuman totally black irises. Erik was disturbed. The clothes were something, but those eyes…

" _It looks like a niqab_." Charles said in his head. " _What she is wearing, I mean_ …"

Erik looked at him and then back to the girl. He cleared his throat to catch the girl's attention.

"My name is Erik Lehnsherr." He pointed to the telepath "This is Charles Xavier. We came here for you. We want to help you." The girl's eyes bounced from one of them to the other. They didn't seem defiant, but scared and alarmed "How we know about you may be a little bit more difficult to explain, but the thing is…we are like you."

Charles looked like he wanted to add something but Erik sent a simple glance at him that said " _Let me do this_ ", so Charles decided to stay quiet.

Erik gave a step towards her, which made her also step back. Erik felt like he was treating with a scared creature. But he wasn't sure if "this creature" was a dangerous one or not.

"You can't help me." She said with a trembling voice "Nobody can help me…I…I am…dangerous." She shook her head. "Especially for you…both of you."

Erik slowly raised both of his hands. He wasn't a man who showed easily his feelings, but he felt that the girl really needed help. He couldn't get a good glimpse of her, but he knew by the posture that she was tense.

"I don't think you could do something to any of us without my partner knowing." Erik said to the girl pointing to Charles "Look, I don't know exactly what you can do, but let me tell you that nothing can surprise me now. I can control metal and Charles's a telepath. I used to think that people like us were meant to be alone forever, but now we are a team and we want you in that team."

The girl's eyes narrowed. She though that these strange men were making fun of her for anything they may know about what she could do…

"Prove it." She said while her voice broke a little. She meant the metal control part, of course.

Erik made a quick analisis of the room. Its walls were basically made up from metal but it wasn't in his plans to destroy the whole room. Besides he wasn't sure that he could. The girl had a bed made with a metal base builted in a wall. Also, Erik saw a a little desk, a jar with water and an empty cup, all of them made from metal.

He went for the easy. Erik raised her hand and with a quick motion levitated the jar and cup and poured some water in it.

" _A bit cliché_ " Charles said in his friend's mind.

" _That or to throw the desk at her_." He replied only for Charles to hear it.

The girl's eyes were wide open and Erik saw that she started to tremble. He left the recipients fall when the girl stepped back until she got over her bed and put as much distance between them as she could.

"Go away" She begged.

These men were powerful. She didn't need to ask the other man, the one that wasn't a metal controller, to show her his ability. She believed that they both were like her, and she belived that there were more people like them. That was what scared her the most, what she could do with them…

She was a monster.

Additionally, it didn't help the way the so-called telepath was looking at her. She was covered up. She always was. It didn't matter if she was alone or not. But, he was looking at her and she felt as if she wasn't covered at all. He was looking at her like if she was a wounded bunny. She wasn't sure if it made her feel good or worse.

"Please!" She exclaimed and made Erik step back a little.

He didn't knew what her power was and he didn't want to discover it in a hurtful way if it was dangerous. Besides, Charles was in silence. Since they arrived he had been quiet. Erik had asked Charles for it, but now he would have been grateful if Charles could just take out a mighty phrase of wisdom. Words, especiallly comforting words, always seemed to come easily to Charles Xavier. But he was just there, in silence, glancing at the mysterious girl.

"I won't go with you." The girl said with an accent which Erik had only heard in Spain and more recently, Argentina. What was this girl doing so far from home if she was from one of those countries? "It will be better if you go by yourself."

The last "by yourself" confused Erik a little bit. The girl turned her eyes away from them, and he thought that the conversation was over. He was already going to the door when he heard Charles' voice, and then he realized that Charles hadn't moved a step.

"I won't force you or anyone to come with us, nor am I going to beg you...But, if you come with us, we can help you. I can help you. " Charles's voice was now full of passion. "I am not much different than you, you know." Charles step back slowly towards the door. "I won't lie to you; your powers are dangerous, but only if you don't learn how to control them. Of course you can stay here, locked up forever…" The girl slowly turned her eyes to them, and even standing far from her, Eric saw that they were shining with tears. "but that is not what they wanted for you, was it?" Charles gave her his back and walked to Erik, really slowly. "Think about it like this, if you come with us and learn to control yourself, learn how to reintegrate to society, and do something with your life…his death won't be in vain."

Like Erik thought, words always seemed to come easily to Charles Xavier.

That's all it took to convince her.


	2. Chapter 2

"You went a little bit hard in there" Erik thought in his mind opening it so Charles could hear him.

This time, the new member stayed with them as they did the paperwork to get her out of prison. The police corp thought she was dangerous, but Charles and Erik were sent by the government and the girl had put herself in confinement, so they didn't have any problems. And if they had, Charled only had to touch his temple.

"We have to keep a close eye in her." Charles replied while the three of them were walking out of the jail.

The car was waiting for them and Alex was inside of it. When he saw the three group coming to the car he got confused with the sight: the two men who had went to take him out of prison and a weird dark figure coming behing them.

Once everyone was inside the car Charles started to drive it.

"Sooo… where are we going?" Alex Summers asked.

"Directly to the airport. You are flying to our CIA base today." Charles answered while he saw Alex through the rearview, and then he directed his glance to the girl. She hadn't said a word since she had said that she would go with them.

After what he saw in the girl's mind, he couldn't help to feel a little bit disturbed. But if anyone was in need of help support, Charles Xavier would help.

"Congrats, guys. You are now CIA mutant agents. Cool, isn't it?" Erik said with a little sarcasm which won him a funny smile from Charles.

"We'll catch up with you in the base once we find the other mutants" Charles said.

"Mutants?" Alex asked.

"The four of us here are mutants…" Erik said.

"Which is fascinating…" Charles said. "We are different, but that's not a bad thing…You'll meet the other guys and my sister, Raven. You'll see that you don't have to be locked up in jail."

And with that, the conversation was over. Eric and Charles saw the two teenagers get in the private plane that would take them to the CIA base. Moira McTaggert would be waiting for them.

A couple days after mutant search, Eric and Charles were in front of Lincoln statue playing a chess game. They had found a boy named Sean, who joined their team. They also had an encounter with a weird man, with weird hair and funny sideburns. He was smoking in a bar and when they tried to explain what they wanted from him, he said:

"Go fuck yourselves."

James, Charles saw it was his name, James Howlett.

"I can't stop thinking about the others out there" Charles said as they were resting in the stairs to the Lincoln monument. "All those minds that I touched. I could feel them. Their isolation, their hopes, their ambitions. I tell you, we are at the start of something incredible, Erik. We can help them."

"Can we?" Erik had his eyes in the lake in front of them. "Identification, that's how it starts. And ends with being rounded up, experimented on, eliminating…"

"Not this time. We have common enemies. Shaw, the Russians. They need us…."

"For now." Erik cut it.

They stayed in silence for a while, as the sun was going down in the horizon. They resumed their chess game and it was Erik's turn when he said:

"About the girl…

"Rosie."Charles knew who he was talking about as he saw the dark figure in his friend's mind.

"Is that her name?" Erik who didn't knew about the girl's name until then, asked him. "She…I…I guess you saw everything in her mind. Why is she…?"

"It is actually hard to explain. I'm not sure I should be talking about what I saw in her mind if she's not here…" Charles sighted as he made his move in the game. "Rose Antonelli…

"I thought you said Rosie…" Erik said in confusion. "Already giving her a pet name?"

"Do not joke about her…"

"I wasn't joking about her, I was joking about you…"

"Well." Charles moved a little bit uncomfortable "I am preoccupied about her. I told her that we could help her, but that girl needs a family, and we are merely…a CIA division."

"You are afraid we can't help her." Erik said.

It was meant to be a question but sounded like an affirmation.

Charles nodded.

* * *

As the new mutants were arriving Raven got more and more excited.

The first one was Angel. She worked in a strip tease club which sounded interesting for her.

All her life she had lived as the prudish sister of the Professor Charles Xavier. She had never had any real friends besides "his brother". Actually she hadn't had like a real contact with anyone besides him. Now she was able to associate with many people.

There was the cute and intelligent Hank, the bitter and interesting Erik, the nice and pretty Moira and now, Angel Salvadore. When they met they introduced themselves and Angel teached Raven some dancing moves and Raven made Angel laugh with her pranks against the bullies, agents of the CIA, by changing her form. They didn't become friends but they had fun together.

The next one was Darwin. He was fun and both girls quickly adapted to him…or was it viceversa?

Then, one day, two "new"'s arrived. A boy and what seemed to be a girl. The boy was pretty cute, Raven thought but the girl…

Hank, Angel, Darwin, Raven and Moira where out of the base when the car with the two new members arrived. When Raven first saw the girl, she got a little bit creeped out. Why was she all covered like that? Was she trying to hide something? Was it her mutation? The scary feeling suddenly fade away. Raven felt a conection with the girl and the same night of her arrival, Raven was knocking at her door, hoping they could talk a bit and maybe become friends. But the girl never opened the door, so she gave up and decided to simply ignore her.

The next one was Sean, a funny, redheaded boy. Everybody quickly liked him.

Once the whole new young mutant division was complete, they all decided to reunite in their common room.

"We should think of code names." Raven said that night. "We're government agents now, we should have secret code names." She smiled. "I want to be called Mystique"

"Damn!" Sean joked. "I wanted to be called Mystique"

Raven laughed and the others smiled. Even Rose smiled, but nobody saw her since her smile was covered up.

"Well, though. I called it " Raven replied and then she "changed" into Sean and said with his voice, making everyone jump of surprise: "And I'm way more mysterious than you."

Raven turned back into her human self and everyone clapped at her, while Angel laughed.

"Darwin, what about you?" Raven asked him.

"Well, Darwin is already a nickname..." Said the guy with the mentioned nickname. "and you know, it sort of fits." Everyone was looking at him. "Adapt to survive and all. Check this out"

Then he introduced his head in a fishbowl and grew gills in his head, which let him breath under water. Everyone beamed at him, except for Rose, who simply clapped but still was impressed and was starting to feel more comfortable with those people.

The next one to choose a name was Sean.

"I am going to be Banshee."

The name was weird, even more for its root, so Sean decided to show them their ability, and it end up with a great window, totally broken. The group laughed and with each one of them Rose was starting to warm up. When Angel showed them her wings and burned the statue's head out of the window Rose laughed.

When Alex tried to make fun of Hank and Raven retorted back, Rose started laughing so loudly like everyone else in the room.

It was Alex turn to show his gift.

"I just can't do it. I can't do it in here" he said, which catched Rose's attention. She was sitting between Raven and him, so Alex caught the quirked eyebrow she made. Darwin asked him to do it outside and all of them started to cheer.

"Alex! Alex! Alex!"

Alex was sent with Rose (as Moira has said the mysterious girl was called) to the base, Raven knew. And Raven saw the look Alex gave to Rose while everyone cheered for him. Since their arrival, Raven saw that between those two, there was a conection, and even though she didn't saw her, Raven could've bet that Rose gave Alex a encouraging smile that made him stand up.

"Get down when I tell you" Alex said as he got out of the room through the broken window. There were 3 girls and 3 boys looking out of the window "Get back" The six of them disapeared and reapeared through it "Get back!" The teenagers ignored him and he said "Whatever" Then, after doing circular movements with his arms Alex shot energy beams. One of them cut through the statue which ended being a half splited golden man.

Everyone started cheering. The girls, Rose too, started to jump and laugh. Then they all came back to their sits.

"You made such a havoc out there" Raven said.

"You should definitely be Havok" A voice in the room said it.

Everyone was surprised as they realized that the owner of that sweet and nervous voice was the "weird" girl, Rose. Alex smiled at her.

"I totally agree" He replied.

Rose could say that she had a friend, Alex. He was her very first friend in the base and it had been the same for Alex. He was the only one who had heard her voice before and she was the only one who had understood what it was like to live in solitary confinment for years.

Raven saw the change of attitude of Rose, so she decided to include her.

"And you should be…?"Raven said refering to Rose.

Rose got alarmed as everyone looked at her. Not that they never did, but now it was directly.

"We can't tell" Hank said. "We don't know what she can do."

"What can you do, little one?" Darwin said.

Raven took one of Rose's hands, and if she hadn't been wearing the niqab the mutants in the room would had probably seen her shocked expression.

"Show off your ability, Rose" Raven said.

Then everybody started to make cheer for her.

"Rose! Rose! Rose! Rose!"

Rose felt her cheeks heating up. She saw Alex and he smiled and nodded. He wanted to finally see her ability. They were friends, they were united, but she had never talked to him about what she could do.

"Rose! Rose! Rose! Rose!"

The voices were getting louder in her ears.

"Rose! Rose! Rose! Rose!"

And louder.

"Rose! Rose! Rose! Rose!"

"I…I c…can't" She murmured. She wanted… but it was too dangerous. Many voices were screaming to her in her head. Not only the mutants' voices, but also the voices of everyone she had ever "used"…

"Rose! Rose! Rose! Rose!"

"I can't" She said again but this time only Alex heard her and he stopped it.

"Rose! Rose! Rose! Rose!"

"I CAN'T. STOP IT!" She screamed making everyone shut up. Rose was hiperventilating, her teeth were chattering and her eyes glistening. She stand up and left the room. Everyone were impacted by her reply and they didn't talk until Alex came after trying to go after her.

"She wants to be alone" He said when he returned. "And she says she is sorry. She didn't wanted to be like that…She's just…"

"Don't worry, Alex" Raven said. "We pushed her, didn't we?

She only got an answer from Angel, since Hank, Sean, and Darwin were all in blank.

"Guys?" Angel said.

"Hank?" Raven moved the guy beside her with her elbow.

But they were just there in blank.

"What're they doing?" Alex asked the girls as he returned to his sofa.

"Messing with us, that is" Angel said as she took a cup of water on the front table and throw it in Sean's face. The guys reacted as if the three of them were splashed with water and took deep breaths. Raven ignored it all, went to a record player and put the needle in the vinyl. In no time, Angel spreaded her wings and started dancing with Raven.

* * *

"I didn't know the circus was in town. Hey, come on, honey. Give us a little…" Two CIA agents were staring through the recently fixed window of the mutant division common room. One of them saw Raven and Angel and laughed about the second's ability by moving his hands like a bird. Then the agent made fun of Hank and it was all it took so he would stand up and close the window.

"They are just guys being stupid" Raven said.

"Guys being stupid, I can handle. Okay? I've handled that my whole life. But I'd rather a bunch of guys staring at me with my clothes off than the way these ones stare at me" Angel replied.

"At us" Raven said.

"I can identify myself with that" A voice was heard in the room. Alex and Darwin were playing a boardgame, but when they heard this they turned to search the owner's voice just as Raven, Angel, Sean and Hank did.

Since the day Rose had ran out of the common room she hadn't taken a step out of her bedroom. Charles, Eric and Moira where in a mission so none of them realize that a young mutant was missing in every meal. Alex was in charge to take breakfast, lunch and dinner to Rose's room and both of them were happy and comfortable with that. They seemed to understand each other.

That's why it had been a surprise when Rose appeared in the common room. Even more, she had talked. As it was seen, Rose wasn't a very chatty girl, at least with people she didn't trust enough. The mutants had felt bad after Rose ran out of the room days before. So, now, everyone was looking at her with a smile. If she corresponded their smile, they didn't saw it because of her niqab. Before anyone could say a thing a rumble was heard outside of their window.

The young mutants walked to their window and opened it. Some poof's where heard here and there but it wasn't until that man with glasses, that looked at them like if they were made of gold, fell from the sky and died instantaneously, that they saw the origin of that peculiar sound.

Raven and Rose screamed.

A massacre started in the CIA base. Agents were falling from the sky, others where being attacked by a red man with horns and a tail, who appeared and vanished from everywhere.

"Mutant" Rose said and everyone seemed to agreed with her.

"Get back, get back! Do not leave that room! We are under attack!" One of the CIA agents screamed to them outside of their window, before he was killed by the red mutant. A second after, the young mutants were being shot, but fortunately none of the bullets hit them. Through another window they saw how some kind of tornado destroyed the machine built by Hank, Cerebro.

The young mutants tried to get out of their common room but the agents and soldiers keep them from doing it. After a big explotion, many of them died and the young mutants ended up in their common room again, the girls screaming. Raven was almost crying, Rose was totally doing it, and Angel tried to keep it cool but she was totally afraid.

They were cornered by the red mutant and a guy with long hair, when they heard how a soldier was exclaiming to someone that he could they the mutants and leave the base alone. But then a shot was heard, a thump, and the doors opened. A man got into the room. He was wearing silly helmet, Rose thought.

"Where is the telephat?" The helmet man asked.

"Not here." The Demon-like mutant, that had killed almost alll of the guards, answered.

"Too bad"

Rose knew they were talking about that man that took her out of prison. What was his name again? That had been the only time she had seen him.

"Well, at least I can take this silly thing off" The man said as he took his helmet off.

"No kidding!" Rose gloomily murmured.

The man arranged his hair.

"Good evening. My name is Sebastian Shaw and I'm not here to hurt you."

Shaw made a quick demostration in which he ordered Azazel (the red mutant) to kill a man and it took less than 5 seconds.

"He wont hurt us unless we give him a reason" Rose analized in her mind.

"My friends, there is a revolution coming…" All the young mutants were still distracted with Azazel's little show, so Shaw call for their attention with his little speech. "when mankind discovers who we are, what we can do."

The man's name sounded familiar for Rose but she couldn't remember where she hear it. It could've been from an agent or maybe McTaggert. Sebastian Shaw moved his sight through each of them. She could've sworn that the man took a second glance at her but, who didn't?

"Each of us will face a choice" He continued "Be enslaved or rise up to rule. Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us then, by definition you are against us…So you can stay, fight for people who hate and fear you or you can join me and live like kings" Rose was by Alex and behind Angel, so when Shaw got near she thanked that she wasn't in front. "And queens…"

But it really shocked her when her human barrier from Shaw dissapeared by taking his hand and walking away from them.

"Angel" Raven said.

"Are you kidding me?" Sean said.

Rose felt powerless. She wanted to do something. Suddenly she felt awful, she was already seeing one of her team walking away and she hadn't even had time to meet her.

"Come on." Angel said "We don't belong here and that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Darwin gave her his hand but she just turned away and walked with Shaw.

"We have to do something" Raven said.

Rose took one step away from behind them.

"Do it, Rose" She murmured to herself "Take it off! Do it!"

Her hands started to tremble. Raven saw her as she wrestled with herself to take her niqab off, and later took her in her arms when Rose fainted. Hank saw Raven battle with the younger girl and helped her to put Rose on a couch. This procedure made them lose Darwin and Alex's plan. When they saw the consequences, Shaw was long gone and so was Darwin.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, I wish it but sadly I don't.

Hours after Shaw's attack the young mutants were outside of the destroyed base. A car was parked and Charles and Eric got out of it.

"Raven" Charles exclaimed while he ran and hugged his sister.

Charles saw the recruits. They were sitting in a bench of what was left of the base, they looked tired but what caught his attention was the youngest girl member of the group laying almost dead over the rock bench. Alex had her head over his legs and was waving a fan to make wind for her.

"We've made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately."

"We are not going home" Sean bluntly said.

"What?" Charles Xavier asked.

"They are not going back to prison" Sean signaled Alex and Rose.

"They killed Darwin" Alex exclaimed. "And Rose hasn't woken up since it happened."

"All the more reason for you to leave. This is over" Charles said as he watched the unconscious girl.

"Darwin's dead Charles and we can't even bury him."Raven said to her brother which hadn't taken his eyes from the littlest girl.

Charles leaned to Rose and tried to took the robe out of her face off.

"She must be suffocating" He murmured as he saw Alex's disapproval look.

"We can avenge him" Erik Lensherr said.

He caught everyone else's attention, even Charles who stopped trying to remove Rose's cloth and walked towards him.

"Erik, a word please"

They walked away of the group, interchanged some words and then returned. Charles adressed the group.

"We'll have to train. All of us, yes?"

He got affirmative answers. Hank emphasized that they didn't had a safe place to stay.

"Yes, we do" It was Charles' answer.

* * *

The young mutant group arrived to the Xavier's mansion. All of them were surprise of its luxury and size, all except Rose who hadn't woken up yet and was being carried around unconscious in Alex's arms.

"This is yours?" Sean asked.

"No, it's ours" Charles replied.

"Honestly,Charles, I don't know how you survived, living in such hardship." Erik sarcastically said.

"Well, it was a hardship softened by me" Raven said as she side hugged Charles and he gave her a kiss in her head. "C'mon. Time for the tour"

Once everyone was instaled in the Xavier Mansion, Charles decided to take a trip to the mansion's nursing room. When he opened the door he found Alex was there by Rose's bed while she was laying there unaware of everything that had happened since Shaw's attack.

When Alex saw the professor he stood up and awkwardly walked out of the infirmary, leaving Charles with a raised eyebrow.

Xavier thought back then that maybe those young mutants had became near while he was away. The last time he had seen Alex was the day the male recruit made a havoc in the CIA mutant's division common room, but the last time he saw Rose was the day he sent her on a plane to the CIA base.

Charles walked slowly towards the bed where the dark covered figure was lying. If the girl was swoon, then he logically thought that she should be unfolded from all those clothes which probably didn't let her breath properly. Once he got near enough to her to take the niqab off, he realized that he couldn't.

"Why're you so afraid, Charles?" He thought "She's just a girl"

He tried to do it once again but he couldn't. Of course, he knew why. He had seen everything in her head. Her power.

When he was a kid he had humbly thought that he was destined to have one of the greatest minds ever. But this girl could make him lose it if she proposed herself to do it. He didn't exactly knew what was behind of that cloth, because when he looked in her head he never saw her face. He couldn't. It was like if she had never seen herself in a mirror. However he knew what would happen if he saw her.

Charles smiled to himself and shook his head. He put one of his hands in the girl's temple. As the doctor in the CIA base said, she was just exhausted. That's all he felt when he touch her head. It wasn't a physical exhaustation. It was more a mental and emotional exhaustation.

"Rosie" He called her though their minds "Wake up…"

He started to feel like if she was awakening, so he tried once again.

"Rosie… You have to wake up..."

He was literally giving her mental and emotional support. That was what she needed.

"Rosie."

Then the black eyes of the girl open. It was so suddenly that made Charles jump away, scaring Rose in the process.

When the girl realize who was she with she put a hand over her heart and took deep breaths. Charles laughed a little and then sit in Rose's bed.

"Hello. I'm Charles Xavier. Do you know who I am?" He said using an almost robotic voice. "Do you know where you are?" Before she could answer, he said: "Of course she doesn't know, you idiot, she's been sleeping for days."He sighted and tried again. Even though he was a Professor he hadn't had the opportunity to be closely to a "student" "What's the last thing you remember?"

Charles stay there seeing her, analyzing her, waiting for any sign of danger for the girl's health. Rose was staring at him with her black orbs wide open. No answer came from her. Charles felt stupid once again and useless. But it wasn't his fault. After being days away, Rose felt her mouth dry and her head throbbed a little. Charles sighted.

"Don't you ever feel hot?" Charles asked.

He wasn't expecting an answer this time but he got a reply.

"Actually, yes." She cleared her throat "It's too hot in here. Do you have any water?

An open-mouthed Charles Xavier, tried to find an answer but he was a little bit disorientated because of response and her voice. Suddenly he reacted and moved to a desk by the bed.

"Of course" He poured water in a mug and the carefully gave it to the girl. "Here you have it"

"Thank you" Rose said.

Charles sat again in Rose's bed and waited untill she finished drinking water, which seemed to be a difficult task since she had to do it under the cloth.

Rose sighted as she gave Charles the mug. Charles poured more water for her and he heard her:

"Charles Xavier, now I remember. Here it doesn't look like the CIA base."

Charles looked at her. She was gazing the infirmary with her black orbs. Her voice trembled a little. She turned her eyes to him and he saw how she got intimidated by him. She was a shy little thing. He couldn't help but smile. She reminded him a little bit of Raven when the blue mutant was little.

"How old are you?" Charles asked before he could stop himself. He could've just seen it in her head but he respected privacy…most of the time.

"19" She answered and soon she was surrounded of curiosity."And you?"

Charles smiled. It had been a lot time ago since a person had asked for his age.

"24 years old"

Rose smiled under the robe around her face.

"Should I talk formally to you and call you Professor? It is weird since you are so young, you know…" Rose asked shyly.

Charles smiled to her. This girl couldn't be so bad.

"Only if you wish it." He gave her his hand "Our first encounter was a little rare, and this, our second one has been rare too, but, nice to meet you."

Rose slowly shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Charles" She said.

They broke their grasp when Raven walked though the door.

"She is awake!" She exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Come, Rose! I'll take you to your room" Raven said as she help the younger girl get up from bed and before she could say anything else, Raven dragged her happily though the mansion's corridor.

Charles discovered two things that day, when he tried to wake Rose from her sleep and tried to get into her head. One, she had a weak heart (she was physically healty but she could get easily impressed or stressed and it would end up with her unconscious); and two, the day of Shaw's attack she had tried to use her ability to stop the madness, she was sure she could stop it (and if what she thought was true it worried Charles a little) but her fear to her power didn't allowed her to do it.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, nor their movies.

Everyone was in the main hall of the Xavier's mansion. Erik was leaning in the chimney, Charles and Moira were sitting in the largest sofa, Hank was sitting properly in another one, Sean was laying in the littlest sofa, and Alex was walking around the room. They were waiting for Raven and Rose.

They stayed in silence like ten minutes until the mutant girls arrived.

"Been waiting too much?"Raven asked while she walked into the room with Rose's arm around hers. "I was showing Rose her bedroom and made her take a bath."

Rose was wearing know a brownish niqab, a lighter color than the one she had been using since everyone met her. All of them saw her, but she turned to Alex, who stopped walking and nodded to her, as if he was asking her with that simple movement if she was alright. Rose nodded at him and everyone could almost see a sweet smile behind her robe. Erik look at Charles and raised and eyebrow; the telepath shrugged it off.

"Well, before anything else…" Charles started but he was interrupted.

"Before anything else…"Erik said and he turned to Rose" girl, can't you take that off?"

"Erik" Charles warned him.

"Really" Erik said looking at Charles, and then he returned his eyes to the youngest girl "If we want to beat Shaw, we have to work as a team. If we are going to be a team, we have to trust each other…"

"Erik" Charles repeated.

"And, really, I can't trust someone if I can't see his face" He finalized.

The mutants were watching between Erik and Rose but Charles caught their attention when he put a hand in his own head.

"Rose, calm your mind" Charles said "You are giving me a headache. Erik leave her alone." He standed up and walked towards his friend. "She'll eventually have to…

"Yeah, just let it be for now, bro" Sean said winning a quirked eyebrow from Erik and instantly, Sean sat straight. "If you wish it, I mean…"

"We have more important things to worry now…" Moira said as she standed up.

She started to explained to the young mutants everything they had discovered about Sebastian Shaw during her mission with Erik, Charles and her fellow agent. Once she finished Charles talked.

"Like Erik said, we have to be a team. We have to trust each other" He gave Rose a quick glance and kept gazing around. "We'll have to train everyday, until we get more news about Shaw."

"Do I have to wake up early in the morning or something?" Sean said as he streched himself "I'm not in a good mood in mornings"

"Me, neither" Alex said.

"Good question" Charles said and turned to his friend. "I'm sorry, Alex, but you and I will be waking up early. We'll train in mornings" Then he saw the other mutants. "Then I'll see Sean." He pointed Sean "You are next, Hank. Raven…" He said as he watched his sister "I know you can train by yourself…"

"No problem" She said.

"Moira will be trying to find any information about Shaw…"

The woman nodded with a smile.

"What about Rose?" Alex asked a little bothered that his friend had been forgotten.

"I didn't forgot about her, Alex" Charles said as he saw the girl. "Rosie, I want you to be almost in every training with each one of the team. You need to get confidence…"He said as he walked to her "and seeing everyone failing will help, I think."

Hank and Raven laughed.

"Thanks, buddy" Sean said sarcastically.

"Really, guys" Charles said looking at each one of them "You it won't be easy…

"Not really helping, Prof…"Sean funnily murmured.

"and you may fail many times during practice…"

"Jeez!" It was Alex this time.

"But I promise you, it will only prepare you to get better. Trust in yourselves and we are going to make great things here and out there when the time comes"

* * *

The next morning it was 7:42 am when Rose woke up. She had been asked to be at 7:00 am out of the house to watch Alex's training. She took a quick bath worried if her impunctuality would bother the mutants. She dressed in a dark blue robe, covering all of her but her eyes and walked out of the house. Charles and Alex were already there.

"Here comes the Sleeping Beauty" Alex joked. Rose rolled her eyes and smiled under her robe.

Now, everybody knew Alex and Rose were close friends. He seemed to be the only guy with whom Rose was comfortable.

"Good morning, Rosie" Charles greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning, Char… Professor" She corrected herself.

Charles started to walk and both young mutantes followed him.

"I told you, there is no need to be too proper" Charles said with good mood.

There was something about Charles, and Rose didn't knew what but she liked him. She hadn't had many contact with him but he was always so nice with her, with everyone.

"It's nice to hear that about me, thank you!"

Alex and Rose didn't knew what was Charles talking about but they let it pass when they arrived to the basement. In front of them, there was a door of a huge bunker. Charles explained his apprentices about that place and what he wanted Alex to do. This last one carried a mannequin into it.

"You know, when I do this bad things tend to happen" Alex said because Charles wanted him to leash his power against the mannequin.

"That's because you can't control it" Charles replied and Rose looked at him with curiosity because she had felt as if it was directed to her. "It controls you. That's why we are here Alex. It's why we are training"

Charles told him to take his time and Rose and himself got out of the bunker.

When the doors closed Charles said:

"It's hot in here, isn't it?"

"Good try. I won't take it off" Rose instantly thought about her robe.

"I wasn't trying!" Charles said out loud and looked sincerely concerned about her which made her feel bad. "Don't be. I'm the one who can read minds." He joked and now she felt irritated. She had forgotten his ability and it wasn't normal to have someone in your head always.

Charles gave her a friendly smile and a light in the wall told them that Alex had finished. They spent the rest of Alex's training putting out the fire.

After a while, when she got bored she decided to go up and grab something from the kitchen. She was starving. She found a delicious muffin with a glass of milk and ate it. The muffin was probably property of some mutant from the house but she didn't care. Nobody was going to know it was her the one who ate it.

"I will know" She turned to the door when she heard the voice.

Fortunately she had just finished her breakfast. Charles was standing there. She was shocked.

"So embarrasing…" She thought. Then another thing worried her "What if it was his?"

"It wasn't mine, don't worry." Charles said as she signaled her to the door; he wanted her to follow him "It probably was Sean's. I think Moira bought it for the little kid."

"He's my age." Even though they had spend some time now togheter that had been the second time in the day that she had talked to him.

"So?" Charles asked with confusion.

"I am not that little, you know." She said as they walked through a corridor.

"Actually, you are, darling" He said.

She stopped her feet. Her cheeks were burnning and her mouth opened as much as her eyes. This made Charles stop and laugh.

"Don't worry. I always refer to women in these ways. Even more, it's not professional to think about one of my students in a different way than a student" He laughed and started walking again.

Rose shook her head and ran to catch up with him. He smiled when she reached him and together they walked outside of the house.

"It is…it is Sean's time…" Rose timidly asked "isn't it?"

"Yes, it is."

They arrived to a part of the garden where there was what seemed to be for Rose a window standing. Charles jogged to it, with Rose following him closely, and checked if it was well secured so it wouldn't fall.

"So, tell me Rosie…"

For Rose it was to weird to hear someone calling her like that.

"Is it uncomfortable for you?"Charles asked.

"What?"

"If I call you Rosie." He answered.

There he was again getting in her head. He smiled as if he had also seen her annoyance with his prying.

"Am…I guess it doesn't" She said.

Charles wasn't sure but there was something in the way she talked that was amusing for him. Maybe it could be her insecurity, or…

"So tell me, where are you from?" He asked now paying attention to her.

She opened many times her mouth just to close it again. Of course Charles didn't see this because of her robe but he could see trouble in her eyes.

"I…I…"

"You don't have to telll me something if you don't…"

"I'm from California."

"Really?" He asked with surprise as he folded his arms."I could've sworn you were from Brazil or Spain, or some place like that…"

Rose smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I know. My accent is not g…"

"It's good." He corrected her.

Rose smiled at his politness and he saw it in her black eyes, which were a little disturbing for him. Of course, he wouldn't admit this; it could've made her feel bad.

"My mom…she was from Acapulco, a beach in Mexico. But, when she turned 12 she was sent to Cuba to work. Her family was so poor…" She didn't wanted him to get bored but he signaled her to continue. " When she was 16 she met an Italian man. They got married and came to America. I was born in California…"

Charles saw her with amazement, but something flickered in his eyes. He saw how she started to tense and he knew why. Charles cleared her throat, catching Rose's attention again.

"I think you've already watched Sean's ability in action" He said and Rose nodded. "Today I only want to check it out carefully"

Charles saw movement in his peripheral vision. Both saw it. Sean and Moira where going towards them.

"And of course, we have the pleasurable presence of Moira McTaggert." He said loud and flirtatiously enough so Moira could hear him.

Rose saw Moira blushing and she thought it was cute. She wished she could have something like that someday…but she wouldn't and she knew why. Then Rose saw how Charles acted as if anything had happened and she realized that maybe he was just a gentleman who knew how to treat women or a flirty man…Or maybe a little bit of both.

"What you are doing is incredible" Charles said after some time, when Sean broke the window's glass in the middle of the garden. "You are hitting a pitch with sound waves that have the same resonant frequency as the glass. That's why it shatters." Rose found it amusing when Charles talked scientifically, like he had done before with Alex, too. "But this, it's like any other muscle in the body" He said as he touched his throat to show Sean the emphasis he wanted to create. "We can control it."

When Sean's training ended the boy exclamied:

"I'm gonna get my muffin."

Then he started running to the kitchen. Rose's eyes wide openned, when Charles saw her he winked at her. Moira saw this last thing. She smiled to Charles, said goodbye and disappeared into the house.

When it was Hank's turn Charles let Rose wait for them in a part of the garden, since the men were going to run. After a while, they were back and going towards Rose and she heard them talk.

"No, Jekyll was afraid about what he could be capable of" Hank said.

"And you are, too"

Hank smiled to Charles and said goodbye to Rose. Then the professor and Rose were alone again.

Charles was about to say something but Rose gathered courage and said:

"About my training…

"About that…"Charles interrupted her. "You don't have to worry." Charles knew they needed as much help as possible, but… "You see, I don't want to push you. These boys don't know how to control their powers, they don't know how to use it or they are scared of them, but I'm sure that even with that, I can help them…" He made a pause and in those seconds she realized that the sun was descending in the sky. She returned her eyes tu him "But I don't think I can help you if you don't let me… So, whenever you are ready you just have to tell me… If you never are, you can always stay here. You are a mutant, after all" He said as he walked backwards and then turned and walked to the house, leaving her alone in the garden, with a tornado in her mind.

Hours later all the mutants were gathered in the dining room. Raven and Moira had cooked a great dinner to celebrate the start of their training. The room smelled delicious and everyone was enjoying and filling their plates. Everyone, except Rose, of course. Charles noticed this and informed Erik. They had been talking about the girl after Charles had left her.

Erik was convinced that they needed to make her cooperate to their cause, even if he didn't knew about her ability. Charles was the only one who knew about the girl's power and past, those were the reasons why he didn't wanted to push her. Also, Charles kinda liked the little girl, as he liked every other mutant member in his house. He didn't wanted to force her into something. Erik thought she was a little brat, but that was because he hadn't seen everything Charles saw in her head the day they met her.

"Rosie" Charles called her "Aren't you going to eat anything, darling?"

Rose got out of her trance and excused herself from the table. Once she disappeared Erik called for Charles's attention.

"I told you" He murmured "Brat"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own First Class nor the X-Men.

The next day, Rosie woke up earlier than the day before. She took a shower and dressed with a blue robe.

She had been locked up almost 3 years in the darkness. Now, everyday the sunlight touched her skin. Well, the skin in her hands. So, some part of her wasn't comfortable enough to keep using the dark clothes she had been using those years of confinement. They had not been the prettiest years of her life. Now, she wasn't happy. She felt troubled but at the same time she was comfortable. That's why she had started wearing lighter robes each day.

She arrived to the bunker before anyone else. She sat in the floor with her back leaning on a wall, while she wait for the first one to arrive. It was Alex.

He smiled at her when he saw her and she smiled back.

"Hi" She said shyly.

"Hey! We haven't talked alone in a while" He said as he sat beside her.

"Well, Charles takes all your time…" She said before she could process what she was saying. "Don't tell him I said that."

Alex laugh at her scared voice.

"I thought that he was taking all your time. Be a good girl. He's the Professor. You might even get some extra points" He joked but Rose didn't get it. She decided to laugh absensentmindedly. "So, how's your training going?"

"Not so good."

"And that's because…?"

"I haven't trained at all." She exclaimed exhasperated. "And to be honest, I don't think I can even if I wanted."

"Do you want to?"

She narrowed her eyes and inclined her head.

"Charles…the Professor, I mean, said that he couldn't help me if I didn't wanted. It's just…difficult" She murmured shaking her head.

Alex could feel her feelings through her wounded voice and her troubled eyes. They kept it quiet for some minutes.

"Will you ever tell me what can you do?" He asked half joking. He didn't think that she would actually tell him, or even considered it.

"It is…ridiculous" Rose said "It may sound more ridiculous for you."

She knew the problem in which their mutant team where into and she felt the urge to help them. She though of herself as a monster and that hadn't changed a thing, but if she couldn't help their new companions with her ability, then at least she could not get in their way. Charles, Erik, Hank, Sean, even Alex, for God's sake… She had to get a total grip of her ability! She knew how to use it and she knew that it could be accidentally triggered when she got too scared or angry. She didn't think that there was a hope for her to use it for a good thing, so the best could be to master it and it would never go out and hurt someone in her new house.

"Does it has anything to do with…?"Alex asked as he signaled her robes and she nodded.

Alex was her friend. Maybe the only one she could considered as her friend. When she was locked up she never felt the need to tell something about her "issue", but now, everyday she was surrounded for many people, mutants, like her. She had found a place where she belonged and since the day before, during dinner, after hearing Charles' words she felt the need to show herself in front of her( what was the word Erik had used?) team. She couldn't. But as she was there in the bunker with Alex, her friend, she got courage and she raised her hand to take her face-covering robe.

"There you are!" Exclaimed Hank McCoy who had just arrived to the bunker. He interrumpted Rose's action and she cowardly stopped it. "Charles is waiting for you in the lab, Rose. Oh, and Alex, you won't have training today but I need you to come in the afternoon to the lab. I am working in something for you and I need some measures."

Alex and Rose stood up. Alex nodded to Hank and gave Rose an encouraging smile before leaving the bunker.

"Ready?" Hank asked Rose and she nodded.

They walked together, side by side toward the laboratory. Rose had always given Hank the creeps. Since they met they never talked too much. As they walked through the mansion they were in silent. That was until Rose talked.

"So…you like science?" She said and she mentally reprimanded herself for her stupid question.

"Emm…yeah. I…I really like it" He answered awkwardly as he saw her. "Do you?"

"Emm…well, yeah. I guess, I think so." She answered. It was funny their scene since they both felt so awkward around the other, and they both were acting shyly. "I just finished high school, before I went to jail…in a nunnery, so…"

"Oh, that's interesting."He said as he nodded repeatedly.

"Yeah, I suppose" She nodded several times, too. They both coughed and finally they arrived to their destiny. Hank openned the door for her. Charles was there and so was Sean.

Charles joyfully greeted Rose as she got in the lab. Following him, Charles explained scientifically (as she liked it) to Rose what they were planning to do with with Sean's ability. When Charles and Hank were dressing Sean with the rare winged artefact, Rose's stomach growled. It was almost afternoon and she hadn't eaten anything at all.

"I am starving!" She murmured in her head.

"Feel free to make a visit to the kitchen, darling." Charled said without taking his eyes off of Sean's instrument. "Just try to be there when we prove this thing"

The men looked really concentrated in their work so she just decided to go out of the room silently. As she closed the door, Charles eyes looked for her.

"She's gone" Sean said.

Charles frowned since he had been waiting for an answer of the girl, but then he shook his head and concentrated again in Sean.

It was an hour later or so, when Rose got out of the kitchen after she ate a delicious sandwich. She came back to the lab but it was empty. She looked in the main hall, and the gym, but nobody was there. She was wondering around the mansion when he saw Raven, Erik and Alex looking out of a window.

Erik was the first one to hear her going to them.

"Hey, girl" He said which brought Raven and Alex's attention to her.

"What are you…?" Rose was about to ask but Raven took her hand and pushed her to the window.

"Look! They are going to make Sean fly!" Raven exclaimed.

Now the two girls and the two guys were tightly watching to the window.

First, she saw and heard Charles

"Now, remember. Scream as hard as you can" He said.

"You need the sound waves to be supersonic, catch them at the right angle and they should carry you" Hank said.

They murmured a little bit more and Sean took possition.

"And don't forget to scream" Charles commanded.

But Sean stood there, waiting, doubting. Rose started to bite her nails, she was nervous and excited. She wanted to tell him something to encourage him.

"Don't'!" She heard Charles' voice in her head milliseconds before she did it.

"Jump, Sean!" She exclaimed and Sean did it.

The mutants only heard a squeak and Sean fell from the fourth story. Everybody inclined in the window to see if he was okay. Fortunately he landed in many bushy bushes.

"I AM OKAY!" He screamed and everybody started laughing, except from Rose and Charles.

The second one found everything funny but it was a little worrisome. Rose wanted to laugh but…she thought she should've felt bad. Charles saw her from his window and she saw him. They stared for seconds and they started laughing wholeheartedly.

Minutes later, Rose arrived to the gardens were Hank and Charles were waiting for her. Hank was taking off his shoes and as Charles said "setting the beast free". Rose got surprised when she saw Hank's feet. She was sitting over the grass, she had been reading a book she had taken from Charles' library. From her place she had a perfect view of Hank and she felt sympathy for the guy. She wasn't the only one with… cosmetic issues, after all.

She saw the men starting to run. A day before Charles had easily beaten up Hank in their race. But now, with his feet free, Hank started running super fast. Charles was almost arriving to the end of her sight, when Hank had already ran a whole circuit. Rose couldn't believe what she saw. She wanted to congratulate Hank. So she stood up and ran towards them. When she reached them, Alex had appeared.

"Impressive, Hank" Alex said just when she arrived. Charles saw her and smiled at her, integrating her to the group. Rose smiled to him and both returned their gace to Alex and Hank. "With feet like those, all you need is a red nose. Right, Bozo?"

Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"I am done here" Hank said before he left.

"Thank you, Alex" Charles sarcastically said to the blonde guy.

"What. An. Asshole!" Rose thought, but unfortunately for her she had actually said it out loud.

Charles and Alex saw her with their mouths wide open. The shy, sweet and nice Rose Antonelli had just insulted someone! She realized what she had done and murmured a "sorry" before walking away, hugging the book in her hands. She reached Hank and saw that the young mutant man was waving at the blonde mutant girl in the gym. When Hank saw Rose he blushed.

"Thanks…for what you said…"

"You heard me" Rose asked.

"I think a half of the mansion heard it" He smiled.

Rose was embarrased but she let it go to do what she wanted to do.

"Congratulations, Hank! What you did there…"She said as they stepped into the mansion "was amazing"

"Really?" He asked with pure excitement. "Wasn't it weird? Seeing my feet and all?"

Rose didn't saw in which moment he did it but his feet were covered once again.

"You are kidding? It was amazing! I don't know why you cover them up!" She exclaimed.

"Well, I…they…you know, they don't look pretty…" He mumbled and shrugged. He saw her directly to her dark orbs and tactlessly he asked. " Is that why you are all covered up?"

Rose got disconcerted by the question.

"Kind of" She murmured before she walked away from the young scientific.

That night Raven and Alex made dinner. Charles saw again that Rose's plate was empty. She was merely drinking water. He couldn't really say if she was getting thinner, because of her robes, but he was totally worried about her health. And there she was sitting in her chair reading the book she had taken from his library, while everyone else was laughing and talking about the day. When the dinner was over everyone excused themselves to go to their rooms. Rose was the last one in doing it. She was so sumerged in her reading, that Charles didn't want to interrupt her. There was something about her that was…attractive, no. There was something peaceful around her. When Charles found the word in his mind he started to worry. Was this the way it was supposed to feel? Were not her clothes really helping to hide her gift? No. No, it had to be something else.

She stood up slowly from the dinner table, without taking her book out of her sight. It seemed as if she didn't know that he was still there sitting. Charles decided not to disturb her, and silently followed her until he let her walk up the stairs to her bedroom.

Once Rose got to her room without taking her book away, she put it in th desk by her bed and climb into her comfy resting place. She saw the ceiling and remembered all that had happened that day. Her talk with Alex in the morning, when Raven integrated her in the window to see Sean, Sean's accident, Hank's achievement and her approach to him, when she insulted Alex. But also, she hear many voices in her head.

" _Trust in youself and we are going to make great things here and out there when the time comes"_

" _That's because you can't control it, it controls you. That's why we are here, Alex. It's why we are training"_

" _But this, it's like any other muscle in the body. We can control it"_

" _No, Jekyll was afraid about what he could be capable of"_

" _And you are, too"_

" _But I don't think I can help you if you don't let me… So, whenever you are ready you just have to tell me… If you never are, you can always stay here._

" _You are kidding? It was amazing! I don't know why you cover them up!"_

" _Well, I…they…you know, they don't look pretty…Is that why you are all covered up?"_

And then she remembered Charles laughing with her after Sean's fell.

She stayed awake a long time thinking and thinking about the day. And as she was falling sleep, she recognized a feeling that she though the had forgotten. She had felt before that she had found were she belonged but now she realized that it was a home. An then, Rose started to feel that with Charles' help she could really do something about her ability.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own First Class nor the X-Men,... sadly.

The next morning, Rose repeated her process to get ready. That day she wore a light blue robe. If someone had seen her from her back, he would had thought that she was a nun. When she arrived to the bunker, after having breakfast, Charles and Hank were putting a weird thing around Alex's body.

"Sexy!" Alex said when she got in the room.

At first she was confused but then she realized that, of course, he was talking about himself.

" Well this is just the prototype" Hank said.

Charles was the only one who felt her presence and while Hank explained Alex what the weird prototype was for, Charles walked towards her.

"Good morning, Rosie"

"Good morning, Charles" She smiled.

It was more comfortable for Charles to see her in lighter clothes. And it seemed that it was the same for Hank.

"Hey, Rose"

"Good morning, Hank" She said nicely and then: "Alex"

"Rose"

Alex thought she was still upset for what had happened a day before with Hank, but actually she was embarrased about her rude attitude towards her friend.

"Try hitting the one in the middle" Charles commanded Alex, going back to work. Rose saw 3 mannequins standing in the opposite end of the bunker. "Just the one in the middle, mind"

Everyone wished Alex good luck and jogged out of the bunker, closing the huge metal gates. When they returned all the mannequins were on fire, except the one in the middle. They tried it many times but it was always the same result. Charles decided that it would be better if they let Alex rest. Charles excused himself since he had to look for Erik. Rose and Hank walked together to the lab. She didn't had anything else to do so she decided to hang with Hank until Sean's training.

Rose saw that Hank had a lot of papers in the biggest desk and her curiosity won over her.

"What are you working on?"

"It's a…well. It may sound weird…" He answered as he gathered the most important papers and showed them to her "but I'm trying to do a serum…to help me… and Raven, of course, to help us with our" He fidgeted with his glasses "beauty problems"

Rose's eyes openned.

"Do you think it could…help me?" She asked with sincere curiousity.

Hank nodded and smiled.

"I could try to make something for you, too. But I would have to see…you" He wasn't trying to pry on her, he really needed to see what she wanted to change.

He explained this and Rose understood.

"I understand…"She murmured putting the papers over the desk "Maybe later…" She raised her sight. "I'll go for water. Do you want some?"

"No, thank you" He friendly responded.

She went to the kitchen, drank a cup of water and when she came back to the lab she saw Raven sitting in Hank's lap watching through a microscope. She wasn't stupid, she knew they were…"flirting"? She didn't wanted to interrupt so she went for her book and then to the garden to read.

She spend there like an hour reading until she raised her gaze and saw a group of men walking to the great parabolic antenna. She identified them as Charles, Hank, Sean and Erik. Quickly, she stood up, closed her book and ran towards them. She reached them, when they'd arrived to the anntena's stairs.

As usually, Charles was the first one in feeling her presence. "It must be because of his ability" She always thought.

"Hey, Rosie" He said.

"What are you doing?" She timidly asked hoping that they wouldn't ignore her if they were doing something important.

"I am going to fly!" Sean exclaimed jumping in his place.

"What we are trying to do is to make him fly using his ability and Hank's invention. You remember it, don't you?" Charles asked her and she nodded.

" It's that "thing" from yesterday" She said awkwardly since Erik was looking at her as if he was annoyed by her.

"Yes, it is" Hank said.

Then, all of them turned when they heard someone shouting. It was Raven running towards them. Alex and Moira were walking behind her. When Raven arrived she said:

"Nobody could miss this." She said with excitement. " We want to see how this ends"

"Yeah."Moira said when she and Alex arrived " If he will fly…

"Or we will end up without a leg today" Alex interrupted her.

"Ha ha" Sean said sarcatically.

"I…I think he will fly" Rose said.

Sean put a hand over her heart and said:

"You always cheer for me! I could hug ya',girl"

"Okay. Let's go" Charles said as he clapped and started to climb the metal stairs of the anthenna.

Only Erik, Hank, Sean and he climbed the anthenna. Rose, Alex, Moira and Raven walked away a little just to seat in the grass and have a better sight of what was happenong at the top of the anthenna. The group in the ground waited for what seemed hours, when actually only minutes had passed. Then Rose let a scream out when she saw Erik push Sean off the the anthenna. Rose took Raven's hand by inertia. Both girls closed her eyes waiting for Sean's impact, Moira and Alex has stood up, and then… Sean screamed and he was flying. Alex and Moira cheered, taking Raven and Rose from their scared petrification. When the youngest girl saw Sean, they stood up and cheered as well.

"It's so magical" Rose thought as she saw Sean raising through the air.

Sean fled for a long time. When he took control of his direction he started to show off in front of the mutants. He was getting more and more distracted annoying Alex from the air, and he didn't saw what was coming.

"SEAN BE CARE…" Raven shouted as the redheaded boy crashed against a tree.

"I AM OKAY!" He screamed from somewhere on the cup of the tree. The team ran towards the tree, even Hank and Eric that had just arrived with Charles.

Rose strayed behind since she was still too impressed with Sean's new ability. Why couldn't she had been born with a gift like that?

"Do not recriminate yourself." Charles said as he stopped by her side, both watching the funny scene in which everyone but them were trying to take Sean off the tree. "Are you okay?"

She had too much to tell, but she wasn't sure if that was a good moment to let it all out.

"It's just that…" She said without taking her eyes out of the scene in front of them, in which her new companions were all laughing and having fun. Even Erik! She saw them and she knew that she belonged with them, but also she knew that they would never totally accept her if she didn't… " every time I see one of the guys getting the reins of their ability, I…I feel so excited. In those moments, I wish I could do that too…" Charles could hear the sadness and exasperation in her voice and could see it in her eyes. "But then I remember that I am as good as a monster, really, with no drama, and…" She shook her head.

Charles always knew what to say, but he didn't have words in that moment. The girl made him feel these irresistible need to help her. But, as he had said to Erik many weeks before, that girl needed a family, she needed to feel trust in someone, she needed to feel love. Her life hadn't been the easiest as he had saw in tiny glimpses in her head when he met her.

"You are not a monster" he said emphasizing each word. "You are different. And I don't know right now what you could do, but I'm sure that if you learn to control yourself, we might be able to find something useful to do with your ability" She was about to reply but he didn't let her. "Just look at Sean. He thought he could only scream and now he can fly." He turned and took a step towards her. Rose flinched under his gaze. "But I cannot do anything if you don't want me to."

They stood there watching at each other for what seemed ages. Her eyes glitered and she sobbingly sighted. Charles gave her a brotherly squeeze in a shoulder and she closed her eyes.

"I want it" She whispered.

* * *

Now that he knew what to do, Hank started to train alone, just like Raven did. Because of that, Rose didn't have anything else to do that afternoon, so she decided to go to her room and think about what she was going to do at night during dinner.

Charles told her "You know what you have to do. You have it in you power to give the first step. I'll see you at night."

He had smiled at her and once he checked Sean was alright he dissapeared in his study.

Now, she was in her bedroom in front of the large mirror. Her hands were shaking as she raised them to remove the cloth covering her whole self. She hestitated many times. She had lived many years without seeing her own face. All those years she had wondered how much was she changing as she grew up. Now, she had lived almost 5 years without seeing herself, if that "thing" in the mirror was even herself. When she bathed she avoided to see herself in the mirror. Sometimes she accidentally took a glimpse, but this was a totally different thing…

She closed her eyes and tried again. She did it this time. She felt the fabric moving against her skin and slowly she opened her eyes. It took her some time to focus her sight since her head was throbbing. It had always scared her what she saw in the mirror and she thought that it would always will.

She deeply breathed in and out as she had learned when she lived in the nunnery and she had her attacks of culpability.

There she was in the mirror as she had always seen herself. Average height with a delicated frame, tanned golden skin, a tiny delineated and perfect nose, sweetly defined cheekbones, filled rosy lips, ridiculously long eyelashes, large and wavy ashy blonde hair, which was naturally perfect as if she was going to an evening party, and her hated inhuman black eyes. She was watching herself in the mirror and she couldn't help but laugh at how disgustingly beautiful she looked. "Looked", not "was" since she had never really known if what she saw in the mirror was really her or just an illusion of her…ability.

She let a last bitter laugh and she let her sink in the floor as she started crying.

* * *

Moira had bought pizzas for dinner, for which the men in the mansion were delighted with her.

"Do you wanna be my mother" Sean asked her when they were all sitting in the table, except for Rose, of course. "You always bring me deliciously unhealthy food! My mother only cooked me vegetable soup…"

"What do you mean by always?"Alex asked.

"She bought me a muffin…

Charles smiled when he heard about this, knowing what had happened with it.

"But you said it dissapeared." Hank said.

"Intention is what counts" He shrugged and returned to Moira. "We are a big family, guys!"

"Is this the part when you start with the cheesy talk?" Charles joked.

"I hope not." Alex said. "We already have enough cheese in these pizzas"

"Bad pun" Erik said.

"C'mon, guys!" Sean said using again the term "guys" for second time. It had been his favorite word since the last hour. "Look! Charles would be the father…

"We are having a bad start." Charles interceded

"Moira would be the mother" Sean continued making the woman let a shy laugh. "Hank would be the oldest brother and Raven the oldest sister…

"What 'bout me?" Alex asked while taking a mouthful of pizza.

"You would be the rebellious troublemaker teenager brother trying to get attention."

Alex throw at him his napkin. Charle laughed watching at his two new "sons" and signaled to Erik.

"I've to hear what you have to say about Erik"

Erik smiled and raised an eyebrow at Sean. Sean tried to make the sweetest face he could so he wouldn't be too severely punished by Erik.

"He could be the old bachelor uncle who is secretly in love with mother but he'll never admit it and meanwhile he tells his angelical nephews and nieces about an impossible love waiting for him somewhere in the contrary part of the world."

The whole room stood in silence but Charles and Alex's laugh contagiated everyone. They were having such a good time and Charles couldn't help to feel guilty because Rose was not with them.

"What about Rose?" Alex said once he controlled his laughter and it catched Charles' attention.

Sean scratched his chin and took another piece of pizza.

"She could be the baby of the family" He answered.

"I think she is older than you" Charles said.

"Don't think so, man." Sean said, and the truth is that actually Rose was older by months. "Even if she is, she looks too young, you know. Besides, I don't think I would fit as the baby…

"No way!"

"Of course not!"

"No kidding!"

"I think you could" Moira was the only one who liked the idea.

"She will be the baby" Sean continued refering to Rose "Our sweet, mysterious, pure and inoffensively offensive baby"

Erik smiled as he drank his beer.

"What about you, funny boy?" Erik asked sarcastically.

Sean combed his hair with her fingers and winked.

"I'll be the funny, intelligent, handome, interesting, gentleman, sporty and humble cool brother"

Raven Moira laughed at him while Hank and Alex rolled their eyes. They were just oppening the second box when they heard Sean asking in a weird voice:

"Who are you?"

Everybody turned to see what he was seeing. Actually, who he was seeing. Alex and Hank stood up open-mouthed. Erik and Sean were stunned and Charles had spitted out the water he had just drank. Raven and Moira where confused and impressed by the sudden appearance of a girl, a REALLY pretty girl.

The girl in question tried to smile but she failed and raised a hand.

"Hi." She shyly said. A second after, Charles brain started to work again and he got paralyzed.

"Who are you?" Sean repeated looking as if he was hypnotized.

"It is…it…it is m…me." The girl stuttered and she took a step, making every man in the room stand up. "It is me…

"Rosie" Charles said before she could say it.

After this information everyone's eyes almost shoot off. Hank arranged his glasses, Alex started to smile, Sean was literally almost drooling, Erik was as still as a rock and Charles was barely breathing. All of them had an important thing in common: they were all slightly leaning towards her, as if they were trying to bow.

Raven was the first one to notice the change in the room atmosphere and looked at Moira. Then she stood up and walked towards the girl. Raven took her from the arm and dragged her to a chair in the table. Once the girl seated, the men did the same as if they were some kind of robot army.

Rose had lowered her gaze and when she rised it she found the thing that she had been so afraid of. The men in the room were watching her as if she was a saint, a goddess. It may sound amazing, but for someone like Rose it was her worst nightmare coming true, what she had been avoiding for many years.

Charles was the first one to recompose himself.

"Ro..rosie" He cleared his throat. "What...what are you…?"

"I told you, Charles" She said without looking directly at his eyes. "I want to try."

"It is such a surprise to see you like this!" Moira exclaimed.

"Yeah, girl. Didn't know you had this under that thing" Raven said refering to Rose's head cloth.

But she was still wearing the body part which seemed like a nun dress. Raven thought that maybe she should borrow Rose some of her clothes and casually it was the exact same thing Moira was thinking.

Rose Antonelli was having a fight inside of her to avoid running out of the room, and was this battle what brought Charles back to the ground. It helped him to remember that this moment was what he had been fearing and that he couldn't lose himself.

"Well, everyone." He said" I think that with…this, we can all feel comfortable around Rose, can we?" He asked especially to Erik. "We can trust her." Her sent a briefly glance at the girl in question. "Feel free to trust her. She is one of us"

Rose raised her face and watched each one of the men's faces, including Charles making him cringe a little. And right there she was about to tell them everything about her, but she couldn't stand their gazes in her anymore. So, she quickly stood and left.

Ten seconds hadn't passed when the men returned totally to their senses and reacted.

Hank took his glasses off and cleaned them, Alex hit his head in the table many times, Sean pulled his hair and slapped himself at the same time, Erik put his hands in his head and rubbed his eyes, and Charles just remained still frowning.

"What the fuck did just happened?" Erik asked.

A/N: Hey! It is good to see you giving fav and following the story. Thanks so much to PocketRamblr who was the first person to review! I just wanted to say that this story is rated T for certain language through it. Nothing serious, really. Keep reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men.

The next day Rose only had to go to Alex's training, since Sean was training alone too now. She was getting ready in the morning, after a shower, when someone knocked at her door. She slowly opened it with fear, hoping it wasn't a man the person outside of her room.

It was Raven.

"Hey" She said while she walked into the room holding a basket with clothes. "Don't know your size, but you can have these."

Rose was wearing one of her robes already, but when she saw the way Raven was dressed she accepted the clothes.

"I thought it must be hot in there" Raven said.

"Yes, it is." Rose said gratefully "Thanks."

Raven was already sitting in Rose's bed.

"I really hope we can be friends now." She said. "I've always only had Charles, and the only "friend" I had betrayed us, so…"

Rose nodded with excitement. It was just as Charles has said; she was being accepted. She felt just like Raven, she didn't have an historial of friends and the reason was a little funny and tragic. Of course, it was related with her ability.

"By the way, the guys are in the bunker." Raven said as she walked to the door. "Maybe you should wear that head cloth, you know, for what happened yesterday" She joked and before she closed the door, Rose heard her say " You are a blessed girl."

Rose smiled. The girl had no idea what she was talking about.

Rose changed her clothes and stood in front of the mirror looking at her reflection, her so hated reflection.

"Should I wear it?" She asked herself fidgeting with her white head cloth.

At the end she decided not to wear it but she carry it in her hands to the bunker. Just in case it was too much for the guys. She was almost in the bunkers entrance when Charles felt her presence.

"Wait!" He told her in her head making her to suddenly stop. "Wear it, please. Alex needs to concentrate."

Rose did as she was told and she wasn't bothered at all. When she entered the room ant the guys saw her, Alex tried to walk to her but Charles cleared his throat from the other side of the room where Hank and him were standing near a mannequin.

"Good morning" Rose said catching the men's attention.

"Good morning, Rosie. Did you have a good sleep?" Charles told her as gently as always.

"I…I…I think so" She said as she got near Alex. Rose saw Hank saw her a little troubled, while Alex saw her as if she didn't have the cloth on her face. The only one looking at her as he had always done was Charles. It was heartwarming. "What are you guys doing?"

Hank explained her that the plan was basically the same but now he and Charles were going to take two of the mannequins positions. If Alex didn't hit the target, well… They were going to stand near the target to give him motivation.

"It would help my nerves if you stand as far as you can of us, Rosie" Charles said.

"Of course, if I distract Alex they can get hurt" She thought.

"Actually, I am more worried of your safety, darling." He said out loud and Rose wasn't sure why but she blushed. Then, he turned to Alex "I have complete and utter faith in you."

Rose saw that maybe Hank wasn't that scared about her, but more about what he was going to be doing the following seconds.

"Poor Hank" She thought. Charles didn't seem to be scared of anything, but Hank reminded her a bit of herself.

She saw both man take a step away of the mannequin in the center and Alex shot. The red energy beam that was now usual to see for her, explode in the mannequin and she let herself exhale as she saw Charles and Hank walking out of it alive. The manequinn was on fire and Hank and Charles saw it burned. Charles turned to Alex with a smile and then to Rose and nodded with a smile. Rose had been most of her life worrying about her horrible ability, she didn't have a normal adolescence. She never had had time to think about mundane things like boys, make up, parties, but now as she walked towards the mannequin on fire, she confesed to herself (hoping that he couldn't hear or see it or however he did it) that Charles Xavier was good-looking.

"Am I still a bozo?" Hank asked Alex taking her out of her dreaminess.

"Yes, Hank. You are still a bozo."

"Asshole." Rose murmured and strangely everyone in the bunker heard it. Hank saw her eyed openned, Charles with an amusing smile and Alex as if he had been complimented by her.

"But nice job" Alex said giving Hank an approval look.

Charles, Hank and Rose saw between them and smile. It was like if anything had happenned the night before. Well, it was until Charles left Alex practicing and then asked Rose to accompany him and Hank to the lab.

When they arrived, Charles took a chair and arranged it for her. He asked her to sit on it and Hank and him stood in front of her. Hank was writing something in a notebook.

"Rosie, I need you to…"He hestitated and look at Hank. "If we are going to help you, we need to find a scientific or logical reason for your mutation. We need you to tell us everything you know about it. Do you think you can do it?"

Now, it was her turn to hestitate but she end up nodding. She was about to take off her face cloth when Charles raised her hands.

"I am afraid I am going to ask you to keep it on. I…We need to be as concentrated as possible. I am sorry, darling" He said.

"Don't worry" She said and sighted. "Where should I start?"

Rose remained silent for some minutes. The science men waited patiently for her. She was watching out the window when she started to talk.

"Before she got sick, my mother always used to tell me that when I was born, the doctor got petrified when he hold me. The rest of the labor procedure was finished by the nurses, since he was mentally gone." She turned to the men and saw that Hank was writing in his notebook as fast as he could. " She said that during my childhood she was always congratulated. She had had the most beautiful girl ever, the people said." She sighted, it was always difficult for her to talk about her family. " As I grew up, my mom saw how I was always followed by kids. The girls were jealous of my looks, and the boys…" Rose bit her lip. Of course the men didn't see it. "My father… I was her favorite girl. I was his eyes. He loved mom but he could had given her up a thousand times for me. He always did everything that I wanted. My mother realized that there was really something serious about me when I used to fight with him and he got sick." Rose's voice was becoming heavier and slower. "When I was little I was a cute little thing for people, but…as I grew up I was usually stalked by men… I never had many real friends, and the ones I had always started to avoid me when they discovered that after introducing me to their boyfriends, they…" She left a bitter laugh "liked me. I started to be hated by woman. They called me…bad things. I was constantly changing schools. If I wasn't bullied by girls, I was stalked by boys." She made a pause losing herself in her memories and after minutes she remembered what she was doing and with who was she. "Then my mother got sick, lung cancer the doctors said, and that was when I discovered my father cheating on her." She closed her eyes now glittering with tears. "I was so angry at him…" Her voice started to break "Mom was sick and dying in a cheap hospital, while I was missing school to take care of her and he was… How could he?"

Rose had never told any of this to anyone, not even the nuns that took her in.

Rose was quietly sobbing when Charles sincerely concerned asked her:

"Do you want a break or…?"

Rose shook her head. She wanted to finish with it as soon as possible, not pospone it.

"The night I discovered him I was so angry. I had never been so angry before. I yelled at him things I can't remember now and I went to bed crying and angry. I was screaming in my head "Die, die, disloyal filthy bastard". I have to admit it sounds stupid, I was stupid… The next day I woke up and found my dad dead in his bedroom soggy with his own blood. In the autopsy, the medical examiner said that he had had an hemorrhage without a logical cause. I…I had wished that my mom and him could switch places. I wished he was the one coughing blood until he drowned himself, as I saw mom doing it many times…"Rose's sight was lost and when he saw Charles and Hank's face her eyes were full of scare. "I kill him." Her under lip quivered and she repressed a sob. "My mother was born in Mexico, but she grew up in Cuba and my father was Italian. I didn't had any family. The only reason I kept living in my house was because my mother wasn't dead yet. I couldn't work and we never were rich, so when…daddy died. Our incomes stopped. Mother was transferred to a public hospital. She was so worried about me that it was making her sicknes worse. That's when I ran away. I was 15 and stupid. I arrived to Washington with my savings but I was starving and I had ran out of money…" Rose blinked several times and realized that maybe she was beating around the bush to much. "I used my power to steal the men's money, but I was sick of it. I traveled more and more until I found the nunnery. It was man-free. I felt in a paradise while I finished high school in it, but as I did missions to help the outcasts I was followed by men. Eventually I confessed the Chief Nun about my ability to control men and she got in my head that I had the devil inside of me." Rose sourly laughed as she remembered their attempts to take Satan out of her. "It was getting worse. But I stayed because I had found a way to know about my mother's condition through a sister nun. Once I got informed that my mother had died I ran away once again and arrived to the jail." She saw Charles. "The jail from which you took me out."

Rose was silent for a long time. Charles and Hank wanted her to keep talking, to deepen in her story.

"That is it. That's my life and all I know of this…curse." She ended as she rubbed her eyes.

When he met her Charles saw glimpses of all this, since he didn't wanted to intrude to much in the girl's head. Now he was impressed with everything she had lived through. Hank, since the night before, had been wary around her, but now he could see behind her mysterious atmosphere. Even more, he was interested and delighted with her mutation.

"You are incredible!" He said "You are like one of those flowers. They are the most beautiful and rare but the most poisonous. Like an exotic animal, your beauty creates like a magnetic field so you can catch your prey."

"Thanks…but that is making me feel worse" Rose said discouraged.

"You can make men do anything you want! It is like Charles power" He said and the professor nodded "There is something in your DNA that triggers in the masculine brain some kind of effect that could make them act as… your slaves…and their own brain can send a signal to their system and it can destroy itself from the inside. It is amazing!"

"Amazing?" Rose asked with indignation "I am a monster! How can I used it for something good?"

"Can you feel the pressence of a man?" Hank asked her as if he was her doctor.

"No"

"We could try it. You could be able to work as a radar" Rose didn't like how he used the term "work" for her. "You could alert us from danger"

"Unless someone sends an army of women. Then I would be useless!" Rose exclaimed with irritation as she stood up. "Look! I just want to live without being afraid that if I get too angry or scared I am going to hurt someone. Demanding men to simply not obey me doesn't work. And then I have the other problem…" She pulled her head cloth off, revealing herself and leaving the men stunned. "Eternal beauty? I don't want it! You said that you were creating a serum that could help me with my problem." She covered herself again with the cloth and saw the men's expression changing as they grasped the reality. She hated herself even more in that moment.

"I..I thought you wanted me to make you look better, but…"

"I don't even want you to make me ugly. I just want to be normal! I want to see myself in a mirror and know that the person looking back at me is really me, not this stupid… mutation!" She exclaimed before she slumped in her chair with her elbows over her knees and her head in her hands.

The three of them stood in silence for minutes. Then Rose felt a hand in her back. She raised her head and saw Charles tilted towards her. Then he took her by her elbow and made her stand up. He could feel her feelings and it was making him desperate and useless as she was feeling. He did what he did to Raven when she was feeling down. He hugged her. He hugged her tightly.

First she was surprised and tensed up.

"I promise you, I'll do everything in my power to help you. You will never have to run away again." He whispered her in her ear covered by the cloth. He slowly removed it and only then she relaxed and hugged him back, setting free all her bad thought and memories. She cried.

Hank had walked out before Charles hugged her and he found a curious Raven out of the door. He didn't need to ask her. He knew she had heard everything, and together, they saw through the partially openned door, the scene that was developing inside of it.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men.

Rose was eating breakfast when Moira walked into the kitchen.

"Here you are!" She exclaimed as she saw the young mutant. "Raven told me that she had borrowed you clothes, but she thought that maybe they were going to be too large for you." Moira made Rose stand up and saw her in Raven's pants and sweatshirt.

"They are fine, I think." Rose humbly replied.

"Do you like to go shopping?"

Two hours later, Raven, Moira and Rose were walking through the city's mall, carrying many shopping bags. Rose, wearing a white clot on her face to avoid stalkers, was the one with less, since she only wanted to buy (with Moira's money) what she really needed. But Raven and Moira seemed to like to spend in any thing they saw in front of them. They decided to take a break in a coffe where Moira asked for a black coffe and the younger girls, a chocolate.

" I don't know how can I thank you for this Moira" Rose said. "I…If I had any money I would pay it to you right…"

"Don't you worry, Rose. I know what it must be for both of you to be in a house 24/7 with only men. Believe me, I work in the CIA. "Moira said as they were finishing their drink "You need a time for yourselves."

Raven and Rose saw each other and smiled. Rose was surprised by the way Raven was treating her, as if they were the best friends of a lifetime. It made her feel as if she really wasn't alone in the world. Even more now, after she let out all that she had been carrying for a long time.

They went to a supermarket and to a restaurant for lunch, before returning to the mansion. The sun was setting when they arrived. It was too early and yet all the boys were already in bed. It was weird but it gave the girls the chance to end their girly day as it had to be. Only girls. They had a cereal as dinner, and they talked about many things. Like Moira's difficult job as the only woman in the CIA, Raven's mutation (Rose discovered her original form which was blue!) and Rose's time in the nunnery. She told them how she learned to cook many things even thought they didn't always taste good, she was almost a profesional at sewing, how she had tried but failed at learning to play piano, and how much she liked to sing since she had been in the church's chorus.

Moira decided to stay that night in the mansion. It was too dark outside to go to the apartment that she had been renting. She said goodbye to the mutants and left them alone.

"You wanna a slumber party in my room?" Raven asked Rose and she delighted accepted.

It wasn't really a slumber party since once they were in bed they fell asleep. But Rose slept happy for the first time in many years.

* * *

The next morning Rose woke up and took a shower as usually. She decided to wear some of her new clothes. She wore a large skirt that reached the floor and a white blouse, long sleeved and high neck. The fabric was thin so she wouldn't get too warmed up. She fidgeted with her face cloth but decided to leave it in her room, only to return seconds after going out of her room for it and her book.

She found Moira in the stairs. She was glad that it wasn't a boy.

"Charles and Erik are outside in the gardens" She said with a friendly mood. Rose smiled and nodded.

What she found was an alarming sight. Charles was pointing at Erik's forehead with a gunshot.

She walked fast towards the man.

"Oh, Rosie!" Charles said before he could saw her.

"You are just in time, lil' girl" Erik said with a good mood as he saw her. This was a surprise for Rose.

"He's always so bitter" She thought.

Charles laughed as is he had heard her, which he did. He had shown Erik everything that Rose had told him and Hank. Of course, he had to tell him; he was his best mate. Also, Charles recommended him not to look Rose directly to her face so he wouldn't get distracted by her.

"Take a sit" Charles said in her mind. She decided to do what she was told and sat over the green grass little hill.

It was funny for her to see how Charles was trying to pull the trigger but he couldn't.

"No, no, I'm sorry. I can't" Charles said as he let his arm fell. "I can't shoot anybody point black, let alone my friend"

Rose let out a tiny laugh. It was difficult for her to think of Charles as her "Professor" when he looked so young and vulnerable. "He can't even shoot a gun, for God's sake"

"Oh, come on. You know I can deflect it. You are always telling me I should push myself" Erik tried to raise Charles arm with the gun again but Charles shove it away.

"If you know you can deflect it, then you are not challenging yourself!" Charles exclaimed.

Rose laughed again. It was too funny to watch these two. Then, Charles proposed Erik to push himself with something bigger.

"I need the situation, the anger…"

"No, the anger is not enough…" Charles said. These catched Rose's attention

"It's gotten the job done all this time" Erik said.

Rose felt indentificated with this. Everytime her ability went…crazy, it was because of anger or fear.

"It's nearly gotten you killed all this time" Charles said before walking to the rock fence. "Come here"

They walked a little far from Rose, but she decided to stay where she was to give them space and privacy. Also she was a distraction. She was interested in what they had been talking about but her fear of interrumpting won over her. She only caughted some words interchanged between them.

Rose saw how Erik struggled to move a huge satellite dish. He gave up and Charles talked raising his voice, as if he wanted Rose to hear what he was going to say.

"You know, I believe that true focus lies somewhere between rage and serenity" But what Charles did next surprised Rose even more. "Would you mind if I…?" He was asking Erik permission to get in his mind.

Rose hadn't had much contact with Charles but he didn't seem to bother to ask her if he could get in her head. She felt uncomfortable, bothered, even angry. She could talk to Charles, tell him that she didn't wanted him in her head…but no.

"He will laugh of me. No, I shouldn't ask him…"She thought.

When she turned her attention to the mutants, Erik was trying again to move the great metal instrument. He was doing it!

"He's…"She was about to cheer but decided to keep it calm so he wouldn't lose his concentration.

And he did it. She saw Charles and Eric laugh and she felt so happy and suddenly so excited. She was about to stand up when they all heard Moira through one of the mansion's window.

"Hey! The President is about to make his adress"

Charles patted Erik's shoulder and jogged towards Rose, and helped her stand up.

"Thank you" Rose said.

"You are welcome." He said as he passed by her. She stood there watching him go and a voice behind her made her realize that he had stared too much.

"Liking what you see" Erik said sarcatically looking at the sky.

"I don't know what you are talking about" Rose said confused.

Erik touched her shoulder, just as Charles had done to him minutes ago.

"Just playing around, kid" He said and walked without giving her a singleglance.

It could had bothered her that he didn't even refered to her directly but she was happy that he had done it without getting all idiotazed.

"Well. I guess he found his own way to coexist with me." She thought without knowing that it was actually Charles the one that gave him the tip.

She didn't knew why but she ended thinking of Charles. Why didn't he got strucked by her when he talked to her.

Then she realized that she was thinking to hard, so she just walked into the house. Charles and Moira were sitting in the big sofa in front of the telly, and all the mutants where standing behing them as President Kennedy made his announcement.

"That's where we are going to find Shaw" Erik said pointing to the tv. Of course he was talking about Cuba, and Rose couldn't help but feel a knot in her stomach. Cuba.

"How do you know?" Alex asked.

"Two superpowers facing off and he wants to start World War III. He won't leave anything to chance" Charles answered without taking his eyes off of the tv.

"So much for diplomacy. I suggest you all get a good night's sleep" Erik said before walking out the room.

Charles stood up and walked out of the room, after he said:

"Rosie, Hank, come to the lab with me."

A/N: Thanks so much, teecakes, for your reviews! And to all the others who are reading this and haven't reviewed it yet, do it! :B


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men :C

"Why do you...?" Rose started as they were walking but got interrupted.

"Hank had a good idea about your ability." He said as they turned a corner to get in the lab.

The first thing that got Rose's attention in the lab was Sean, who got stunned as he saw her.

"Why is he...?" She thought

"Good question." Charles said out loud getting in her mind again, which bothered Rose a bit. "As I was telling you, Hank had an idea. Your power triggers when you are scared or angry. Have you ever used it when you are at peace?"

Rose shook her head.

"That's exactly where we have to start. Think of it as your arm. You have to extend it so you can hold something. What we'll be doing is trying to make you contract it as much as you can and still try to hold that something." Hank explained as easy as he could.

"And how are you making me do that?"

"You, darling, just have to sit..." Charles said as she dragged her to the chair where she sat the day before. "Drink a calming tea." He handed her a steaming cup " Take some deep breaths and try"

"What does Sean have anything to do with this?" She asked looking at the redheaded boy who watched at her as if she were as beautiful as one of the muffins Moira bought for him.

"Erik was out of the league, Alex wanted to help but he only got grasp of his power and I didn't want any accident. It was only Hank, Sean and me, and..." Charles said as he positioned Sean a few meters facing her, in front of a chair and stepped back, while Hank was writing again in his notebook. "since Hank has to take record of everything that's going to happen..."

"And Charles seems to have a better grasp of reality when he is looking directly at you, which I don't... " Hank interceded.

"We only got Sean left. And he was excited with the idea of being near you, so..."

" So, you want me to... control him?" She asked scandalized.

"Yeah. That's the point." Hank answered without looking directly at her face. "But you need to be in all your senses. You have to be conscious of what you are doing."

Rose sighted looking at Sean's face who flinched. Charles, saw this and put his fingers in his temple.

"Don't look at her face." He commanded and Rose realized that he was using his ability to take Sean out of his amazement. Sean took a little time to do it "Write that down" Charles told Hank, who wrote in his notebook under Rose's name 'Resistance to Charles'.

Hank sat in a chair near and Charles leaned in a desk behind him with his arms folded. He nodded to Rose and she turned to Sean who had his eyes closed.

"Man, this's the craziest crap I've ever done in my life!" He exclaimed with his conscience intact.

Rose fidgeted in her seat and look at Sean. Meanwhile Charles watched her with a critic eye. He could hear Rose in his head saying things like "Sit down". He could feel her starting to feel stressed as the time passed and nothing was happening. Rose left the cup in the table beside her and took a strong hold of both sides of her chair. She bit her under lip as she got angry with herself.

"Sit down!" She exclaimed out loud to Sean who did as he was told and opened his eyes looking at her like a zombie.

She was fuming until she saw him obeying her. Then she sighted and smiled.

"I did it!" She got excited but it easily got dissipated.

"Actually, you didn't." Hank said looking at Sean and then to Charles. Rose did the same and Charles saw her with an uncomfortable smile.

"He's right. You had to get angry, so you could control him and that's what we don't want." He said without flinching as he saw Rose's eyes. " I am afraid that we have to train more."

Then he turned his gaze to Sean and he automatically closed his eyes coming back to Earth.

"Damn! I feel like a puppet." He exclaimed with excitement and clapped, before standing up again.

"Let's try it again, Rose." Charles said looking directly at her eyes. " And don't forget to breath."

They kept trying it like for an hour until Rose bursted out.

" I CAN'T DO IT! I don't even want to control someone! Why do I have to control, Sean?! " She stood up and walked towards the door. " I can't stay calm in here. I feel like I'm suffocating. " She turned to the men and with an angry glanced she yelled " Don't you dare to follow me!"

She lashed the door as she left and the men in the lab looked at each other.

"We should go after her" Charles said after a minute.

"You SHOULD go after her" Hank said and turned to Sean who nodded at him. "We can't take a step after her."

Charles looked confused at them.

"Can't you move?" Charles asked them.

"I can..."Sean said. "But if I think about going after her my legs don't answer me"

Hank nodded. It was the same for him. Charles wasn't feeling anything weird at all.

"I'm fine" he said and turned to Hank before walking out of the lab "Write that down. Seems I'm not influenced by her ability."

* * *

The first-place Charles looked for her was her bedroom but as he was knocking the door Raven appeared out of her own bedroom.

"She's in the garden." She said patting him in the shoulder "under your grandad's tree. Now, stop it and let me sleep."

"You know it's almost lunch time, don't you?" He mocked at his sister, but she ignored him and walked into her room.

Charles took his time to arrive to the tree Raven had said. Rose was sitting under it with her back leaning on it. She had her eyes closed. The wind was blowing delicately on her face and her large skirt was all extended around her. It was a lovely sight, Charles had to admit.

Rose heard someone coming. She had thought it was Alex, but it was Charles, she discovered as she opened her eyes.

"I said that I didn't want to be followed." She said watching him coming near and sitting beside her.

"I know, but I've learned that teenagers want the opposite thing they ask for when they are angry"

"Well, I'm not a teenager" She said annoyed. She was still angry. Angry with her, Hank, Sean, Charles and the world. " And I'm tired of being treated like one by all of you!"

"Then how do you want us to treat you then?" He asked leaning in the tree and folding his arms with and amused smile.

"As a woman!" She exclaimed throwing her arms to the air. Just after she finished saying it she realized how stupid it had sounded. Slowly, she started to laugh in a crescendo and Charles couldn't help it and started laughing too. "I am sorry." She said once she recomposed herself " It is just that… finally I was feeling…"

"Good?"

"Happy." She saw him directly to his eyes. He fidgeted a little uncomfortable.

"It's just her mutation" He remembered himself, in his mind, the reason of the magnetic field around her that was affecting him.

"And then you come and treat me like a teenager. Just like Hank and Erik look at me. As if I'm just a silly little girl, and…"

"You feel frustrated. You think you have lived too much to be treated like a child, but it gets to your nerves to see that you can't even control yourself as if you were one." Charles quickly said.

Rose frowned and sat on her knees, facing him.

"Also, that!" She exclaimed a little less annoyed this time "You seem too polite asking everyone around if you can get in their heads, but you don't seem to have a problem at getting into mine without permission."

And just there she wanted to punch him or push him. But she had to control everything in her to not do it. He was the Professor after all.

"Do it" He said.

"What?"

"Do it. Push me!" He said amusedly as he leaned to her.

He didn't had to say it again. She pushed him with all her force and after that, she breathed out, strangely feeling so much better. Meanwhile, Charles was internally laughing, just as he had thought she wasn't strong at all. It made it entertaining for him.

"You feel better?" He said crossing his arms again and resting in the tree's trunk.

"Yeah." She said smiling. She had to admit herself she was so bipolar.

"The only time I ever let myself get in your mind was the day I met you." He said as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the breeze. Tomorrow at the exact same hour they were probably going to be fighting for their lives. He wanted to relax for a bit.

"But you always…"

"You are always thinking out loud in your mind. Even when I don't want you I've find that I can easily hear some of your thoughts." He smiled without opening his eyes. "And let me tell you that I find them quite amusing."

Rose immediately blushed remembering times she had criticized Erik and him.

"Sorry" she murmured

"You shouldn't. Everybody is free to think what they want. " He said as he opened his eyes.

Then, she sat by his side, and rested her back in the trunk. They spend there like half an hour. During this time, Rose turned down all her troubled feelings. Charles felt all of this and once she felt her totally relaxed he said.

"I think you may have the same problem than Erik." He said but he didn't got an answer.

He frowned and turned to her companion. He saw her sleeping and her head was bouncing since it didn't have a a support. Seeing her like that touched a sensitive vein in him. So, slowly and gently, he reached for her head and laid it down on his shoulder.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men nor First Class :C

When Rose woke up the sun was going down in the sky. She felt something over hear head, and once she totally woke up she realized that she was leaning in someone's shoulder and that someone was leaning his head over hers.

"Charles" She whispered remembering where and with who was she with. "Charles!" She said trying to wake him.

Slowly he opened his eyes and rubbed them. He stood up and gave Rose his hand to help her. She accepted it and thanked him.

"I can't believe that I actually fell sleep" He said.

" Me neither. Actually, I can't remember when I did."

They started to walk to the house. Rose was thinking about how bad it would had probably looked if someone saw them. Charles had his mind in a totally different place.

"I believe…" He said catching Rose's attention. " that you have the same problem that Erik had".

"Oh?" She asked disoriented and then realize he was talking again about her mutation. "Ah."

They had just reached one of the great doors to go inside the mansion but Charles stopped.

"I told him that I believe that true focus lies somewhere…" He said.

" Between rage and serenity." She finished remembering the day before.

Charles nodded, and did exactly what he did a day before with Erik. He took a step towards Rose, making her aware of the short distance between them. Slowly, he raised his hand.

"May I…?"He asked moving his fingers and Rose closed her eyes accepting it.

Rose had seen Charles touching Erik's temple with two of his fingers, but she… what she felt was different. She opened her eyes, and saw how Charles' hand gently touched her cheek and slowly he traced her cheekbone until he reached her temple. She was too near to his face, and she had an excellent view of his ocean like blue eyes, iluminated by the last rays of sun. Suddenly she wasn't seeing him anymore. She was in her old bedroom, and she was in her younger herself. She was playing with her father with her dollies, and her mother arrived with a tray of chocolate chip cookies. It was her father's first birthday that she remembered. She saw her mother kissing her father and then she walked to her with the delicious cookies.

"I just took them out of the oven" She said with the voice, Rose still heard everynight in her dreams, slightly accented, just like hers. "Eat as much as you want, baby."

Little Rose took a cookie from the tray and as she ate it her mother hugged her.

"My beautiful baby" She kissed her temple and then they were being hugged for dad.

"My girls" He said.

There was a moment between the memory and the return to reality were she felt many emotions. Peace, love, nostalgic, but also anger. Then she was back with Charles. Her eyes were shinning with tears and one of them had escaped.

"Tomorrow we will be in danger. If any of us is not near to help you…try to remember what I just saw you. " He said as he gently removed her tear and touched her head, since she had closed her eyes and was trying to repress her feelings aftershock. " And don't you ever think again that you are a monster. You are just different like me… like us. Stop being angry with yourself. You. Are. A. Great. And. Good. Girl" He murmured her. Then he blinked and frowned and left without another word.

* * *

After she took a shower, Rose was in her bed that night, watching at the ceiling. Erik had told him to have a good night's sleep. But she couldn't close her eyes. She had a lot in mind: the memory she had forgotten, her ability's problem, her image's problem and then there was Charles, but of course that last part was the least important at the moment.

Seeing her mother again, hearing her, hugging her had been a great shock for her. Even more because his father was there. She had felt loved and at peace but angry at the same time. She wasn't angry with his father, no. Even after everything that had happened she still loved him and grieved for his death. He was her Daddy after all. She was angry for everything that life had taken away from her, when she considered herself a good girl. She felt anger but also peace,…serenity.

She was as concentrated as she had never been… But she was dragged out of it when someone knocked at her door.

"Come in" She said after clearing her throat and rubbing her face.

Raven came in carrying with her a little dark box.

"Can I talk with you?" She asked as she closed the door and walked to her bed.

"Sit down" Rose said as she nodded.

Raven sat down, sighted and opened the little box. Inside of it there were two syringes. One of them had a green substance and the other one was red. The blonde girl explained everything that had just happened with Hank.

"He wanted me to give you this." She said and took the red syringe out. "He said, that this was going to give you what you wanted."Raven said with a broken voice. Rose already suspected that the blonde mutant already knew about her mutation. "It will make you normal…But Rose…Think of your mother!"

This totally disoriented Rose, who had already taken the syringe. How was her mother related with her wish of looking normal?

"Everything you are is a mixture of your mother and your father." Raven said catching Rose's attention. "When you were alone all those years, and you thought you didn't have anything left from your parents, you were wrong. They are in you! How you talk, how you think, how you feel,..how you look. Your mutation, itself…"

Raven stood up and turned to the door so Rose only saw her back.

"I've already started to accept myself. Will you?" She said before she left her alone in her room.

Rose stood still for some time. She saw the syringe, the red substance inside of it, and it strangely remembered her of her mother and father's blood. She started to hiperventilate and before she could do anything she could regret in honor to her parents she threw it to a wall. It shattered to pieces and the substance got spilled in the wall and floor. She had to clean up the mess, but she ignored it and went to sleep, proud of her decision. Proud of herself. If Raven could have seen her she would have thought "Mutant and Proud".

* * *

"We are the next stage of human evolution" Erik said as he and Charles were playing chess and having a drink that same night. "You said it yourself!"

"No…" Charles intejected.

"Are you really so naïve as to think that they won't battle their own extintion?" Erik said trying to get as much attention of Charles as he could. He had been too distracted that night. "Or is it arrogance?"

"I am sorry?"

"After tomorrow they are going to turn on us. They will come some day with their weapons, and you won't be able to take care of you children. But you are blind to it, because you believe that they are all like Moira"

"And you believe they are all like Shaw" Charles inclined to him and lowered his voice "Listen to me very carefully, my friend: killing Shaw will not bring you peace"

"Peace was never an option" And with that, Erik ended that conversation.

Charles shook his head. Erik was his best friend, and he was worried about him. He didn't want him to introduce himself in a life of killing that he could regret someday. Now he had another thing to worry about for the next day.

Charles rubbed his eyes while it was Erik's turn to move in the game.

"What's wrong with you?" Erik asked him feeling his uncomfortability with something.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting weird. I thought it was because of tomorrow but…now, I think there is something else." Erik said as he watched Charles taking one of his towers out of the game.

Charles didn't even want to think about what was bothering him. It was weird to tell Erik. Yeah, he was his best friend but he was still a man. He would'd felt better telling Raven.

"Do you…" He vacilated. He felt so embarrased. He was a Professor graduated from Oxford, and he couldn't even explain himself what what happening. "Have you ever feel that you are thinking… things you shouldn't?"

"All the time." Erik said as he drank a sip of his wine. But Charles was young, younger than him. Erik wasn't too lost with Charles' attitude with each of the members in the house. "Don't worry, Charles. Don't let something so mundane bother you."

Charles was now interested in what he was saying. Erik took advantage of this moment to take Charles' last horse out of the game.

"It's because of her mutation. Nothing more. Just do what you told me to do: don't look directly at her." Erik raised his eyebrows. "You spend too much time with her, it doesn't surprise me."

Charles pursed his lips. He had been telling himself the same thing that Erik was telling him now. Was it really only that?

"Don't let the little brat get in your mind"

"You don't like her too much, do you?" Charles said with a smile, as he saw her in his mind.

"Actually I like the kid. But it was all better when she was wandering around dressed as a nun." Charles recovered one of his pieces and laughed. "It gets to my nerves."

Charles nodded slowly smiling, and making a move in the board.

"Aren't you a Professor? Isn't she your student?" Erik asked sarcatically "The next time you feel…weird around her just remember that. Put your professional ethic over those fake desires created unconsciously by her".

Charles kept thinking about everything that Erik had said, and for the first time ever, Erik won the game.

* * *

Thanks for reading this story and especially for those who review it!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the X-Men.

The next morning the whole mansion woke up and found a note stuck at the laboratory's door.

 _Gone to the airbase, bring the crate marked X._

 _PD. Rose's with me._

 _Hank_

Charles opened the great doors of the lab and found everything turned upside down. Erik, Alex, Sean, Moira and Raven (in her natural blue form) walked behind him.

"What the hell happened here?"Erik asked.

Raven was worried. What if something happened with Rose when she let her the syringe? Or Hank?

They found the X crate and opened it.

"Hank's been busy" Erik said sarcastically.

"Do we really have to wear this?" Alex asked.

"As none of us mutated to endure extreme g-force or being riddled by bullets, I suggest we suit up." Charles answered him.

* * *

Rose was a light sleeper. She woke up at night and heard noise inside of the lab, during her way to the kitchen fo a cup of water. She entered it and found everything destroyed. Then out of the blue, a great blue creature appeared and since she was exhausted from the day, with the surprise, she fainted.

When she woke up she was in an unknwon place for her.

"I am sorry" A voice said behind her. She adjusted her sight and she saw the great blue thing she had saw before she vanished. She would have screamed but his voice sounded familiar. "I didn't want to scare you."

It was Hank!

"What happened to you?" She asked concerned for him.

He, as lately, wasn't seeing her directly to her face.

"Did you…Did Raven give you the syringe?" He asked sounding so terribly down.

"Yes, but I didn't…"

"Good" He came near her and sat beside her. "This happened to me. It didn't attack the cells, it enhanced them. I was supposed to become normal…pretty normal."

Rose couldn't help to pat his shoulder.

"It's good you didn't took the dosis. You would be now…prettier." He murmured.

Rose sighted.

"Where are we?"

"At the airbase."

"Did you sleep?" She asked with a motherly tone.

"I couldn't. I…"

"Then try…" She said and pulled him to her. He laid his head on her lap and gently Rose took his glasses off. She smiled when minutes after he started to snore. She felt too bad for him. She wanted him to rest since the team was going to need him against Shaw. Also, he deserved it. He seemed always so eager to help her and investigate about her mutation. The least she could do was to let him sleep.

* * *

Rose slept too but was the first to wake up. When Hank woke up, she discovered that actually they were in their plane. Hank gave her some kind of protection uniform and left her alone so she could change. When she finished she found a way to get out of the plane and look for Hank. He was out of the airbase watching at the sky.

"Everything is about to change, isn't it?" Hank asked her without taking his eyes off the sky.

"I am not sure if it is going to change for worse or better..." She said. "But something definetively big is going to happen today."

Rose breathed in and out, she let the wind blow at her face and her hair danced around her. She thought of Cuba, where she was about to go. She thought of her parents.

"I am going to make the things right." She thought as she closed her eyes.

When she opened them Hank was watching at her. He didn't took his eyes off of her and Rose with her own asked him what happened.

"It's just…" He said smiling at her. "I don't feel hypnotized."

Rose frowned and when she understood what he meant she let a scream of joy, that made Hank laugh. They talked for some minutes more, and Rose was delighted with the control she was having of her mutation. She didn't know how she was doing it but he didn't lose himself as they talked. Not even once.

When it was time, they walked back at the airbase.

"Where are they?" Both heared Raven asking.

"Here" Hank said dragging everybody's attention to him.

"Hank?" Charles asked.

"It didn't attack the cells. It enhanced them" He said as they walked toward the bigger group. "It didn't work."

Rose gave him a gently squeeze in his shoulder.

"Yes, it did, Hank. Don't you see?" Raven was the first to talk. "This is who you were meant to be." Rose saw Hank walk towards Raven and smiled when she saw Raven touch Hanks arm. "This is you. No more hiding."

"You never looked better." Erik said patting at Hank, and the blue male mutant took him from the neck.

"Hank!" Charles exclaimed.

"Don't mock me!" Hank said and, even though it was a serious moment, Rose had to resist her urges to laugh. Finally someone was giving Erik what he deserved.

"Hank, put him down immediately, please." Charles commanded. "Hank! Hank!"

Finally, Hank let go and Erik fell to the ground.

"I wasn't" He said before turning to see Rose who was bitting her lips to not laugh. He frowned at her with confusion but decided to worry about the matter later.

"Even I got to admit you look pretty badass" Alex said catching Rose's attention.

"Here he goes again." She thought he was going to mock at Hank again.

"I think I got a new name for you: Beast" Then Alex turned to Rose.

Alex frowned with curiosity as he looked at her, but she was such an enchanting lady, so he winked at her. She smiled and mentally forgave him for being an asshole. Besides, she didn't want to go to war being angry with his first friend.

"Rose." Charles called her.

When she looked at him, Rose noticed how as everybody had been doing lately, he wasn't looking at her face. This action let her a bit down. Charles was the only one with whom she wasn't afraid of trying to work with her mutation, because he never tried to escape from her gaze. It was his own way to tell her that she could really trust him. But now, he was doing the opposite thing.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

When Charle woke up that morning and found that the only person missing, besides Hank, was her, he almost got scared, but once he saw Hank's note it relaxed him a bit. Then, of course, he saw the mess in the lab and thought that maybe Hank and Rose had been attacked. Now he could be at peace. He just needed to hear her say she was fine. Of course, he said to himself, the concern was only because she was a student, wasn't it? Nothing more.

Almost everybody felt the tense atmosphere when Charles asked her this, but didn't turned to see her and made it seem to noticeable. When Rose was about to respond waiting for his gaze but never reached her, too. Everybody felt it, but only Erik knew what was happening.

"Yeah." She said. "I am actually really good."

Charles nodded while he watched their plane.

"You're sure you can fly this thing?" Sean asked Hank, returning everybody's attention to him.

"Of course I can. I designed it. " He answered.

* * *

They had been flying for hours when Hank said:

"It looks pretty messy out there"

The mutant team saw as Charles put their fingers by his temple and closed his eyes. After seconds of concentration, he said:

"The crew of the Aral Sea are all dead. Shaw's been there"

"Aral Sea?" Rose thought. She had no idea what he was talking about. She just knew that they were in the middle of a soon to start war and Shaw, that horrible man, had left dead people behind him. That was the moment that not only her, but also Raven, Sean, and Alex realized that they were REALLY in a war, and once they totally had entered in it, any of them could die at any minute.

"He is still here, somewhere" Erik said.

"He set the ship on course for the embargo line." The telepath informed.

"If that ship crosses the line, out boys are going to blow it up" Moira said from the co-pilot seat. "And the war begins"

"Unless they are not our boys" Charles interceded and looked at Erik.

Rose saw at Sean who was in front of her. He seemed to be scared as well. She felt the need to talk with someone, but then she saw Charles put their fingers in his right temple. She turned to Alex. He seemed scared just as Raven, Sean and her, but he was better at hiding it.

Then a great missile flew near them and Hank had to make a spin with the plane. Rose and Raven screamed.

"Hold on!" Charles yelled as he put an arm around Raven.

Rose heard Hank growled and felt Alex arm around her to secure her. When Hank estabilized the plane he turned in his seat.

"A little warning next time, Professor"

"Sorry about that. You all right?"

"Yes"

"Yeah!"

Rose only nodded with her eyes still closed and one of her hands touching Alex arm. She didn't saw it, but Charles was watching at her as he thanked Alex and smiled at him.

"Anytime" The blonde mutant told her.

"That was inspired, Charles" Moira told him, dragging him out of his peeking at the littlest girl in their team.

He put his fingers in his temple once again.

"Thank you very much, but I still can't locate Shaw"

"He is down there. We need to find him now" Erik exclaimed.

Rose had to admit that Erik seemed like the fearless one in their team and secretly admired him for that.

"Hank?"Charled questioned.

"Is there anything unusual on the radar or scanners?" Hank asked Moira.

"No, nothing."

Rose wished that she could be as helpful as Moira was being. The older lady was so intelligent, driving a plane. She wasn't just a pretty face as Rose was and she must had been the kind of girl most man liked…

"But, why am I thinking something like this in this precise moment?" Rose mentally argued with herself.

She got too distracted that when she returned to reality, Sean, Charles and Erik where standing in front of an open floorgate.

"Remember!" Charles yelled at Sean since the wind coming from the floorgate almost extinguished his voice. "This is a muscle. You control it!" He reached to his head "You'll be here the entire time! We will see you soon! On my mark! Three!"

Rose took Alex's hand by force of habit.

"Two!"

She gulped.

"ONE! GO!"

And with an excitement scream Sean jumped out of the plane. They didn't even had to wait for a minute, because Charles informed:

"Banshee's got a location on Shaw" He walked towards Erik "Are you ready for this?

"Let's find out" The metal controller answered.

Erik disappeared through another floorgate, and Charles was leaning over it. Rose saw him with his fingers on his temple. The men were communicating. Alex, Raven and Rose spent minutes looking at each other until they saw through the front window that an enormous submarine was levitating beside their plane. Everybody were stunned watching at the phenomenon, that is, until a tornado was created by one of Shaw's minion and everything got out of control.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I want to own the X-Men to make more movies with James McAvoy on them...but I don't own them. Nor Marvel, nor the X-men, nor anything.

Rose lost her conscious for a few minutes, because she had hit her head. As soon as they stopped crashing against Cuba's beach, and Erik set him free, Charles ran towards Rose.

"Rose!" He said feeling genuinely afraid when he saw her blood running town a side of her delicate face. "Rose!"

"Charles!" Moira exclaimed since she was trapped in her seat.

Raven got out of hear seat without help and ran to take Moira out. Meanwhile Charles was still trying to wake Rose up.

"Rose, please!" He said shaking her gently. "Please!"

Suddenly, Rose took a deep breath and opened her eyes, finding Charles inches of her face. Charles felt again the magnetic sensation when he saw at her dark orbs. He had been taking her face with his hands, and flinched when she put hers over his.

"Charles!" She exclaimed as she remember where were they. She took his hands out of her face, making him feel lost. She wasn't rejecting his touch, as he had thought, she just knew that she was being a distraction, again. "Go! Shaw!"

He reacted, and ran to a broken part of the plane where he could she Shaw's submarine crashed against Cuba's sand.

"I read the teleporter's mind" He informed Moira. "Shaw is drawing all the power out of the sub. He's turning himself into some kind of nuclear bomb"

That's all Rose heard since her head was throbbing. They were creating a quick plan, but she just heard when Charles said:

"Raven, stop!"

"I am going to help them" She said as she helped Rose to get up.

"We don't have time for this. If anything comes in that entrance you are taking care of it. Also take care of Rose, yes?"

"Fine" Raven answered through her teeth.

Once they were left alone, Raven started to try to heal Rose's wound.

"I am sorry" Rose said with a sad tone. "The war is just starting and I am already ruinning the party for you"

"Don't worry. I am not angry because of you" She told her with a smile. "Even if you weren't here, I am sure Charles wouldn't had left me do something."

They heard Moira trying to communicate with the American base, but nobody was answering her. Charles was near her, telepatically comunicating with Erik. Somewhere far away Sean was shouting, and Raven and Rose even at distance heard him.

"Rose…" Raven said with a voice full of fear "I…I don't want to scare you,but…but you are losing too much blood…"

"What?"

"I can't stop it!" She exclaimed.

Then they heard it. Alex's shooting blast and screams. Rose was feeling so damnful useless. She took the cloth Raven was putting over her head and throwed it away.

"I am sorry!"She said as she ran outside "I can't be useless forever!"

"Rose, no!" Raven yelled at her, which catched Charles attention.

He closed his eyes, trying not to lose focus. But even though a part of him was with Erik, another part was trying to find Rose's mind.

As she ran out, Rose saw Hank and the red mutant, Azazel, fighting. She took a deep breath and walked towards them. What she was doing was dangerous, she could make Hank get hurt. So she concentrated as much as she could and she yelled:

"Azazel!"

The red mutant turned at her at got stunned.

"Let him go!" She demanded and the red mutant let go Hank.

Hank stood up as quickly as he could, while Rose walked towards him. Then, Rose took the "charm" out of Azazel, pushed him with all her strenght and Hank knocked him out.

Rose stood still for seconds. She had just did it! She had saved Hank's life!

"We are a good team!" Hank said raising a hand with claws and Rose high fived him.

Just as they did them, Rose heard something that frozed her heart. It was Charles screaming, somewhere inside their plane. She was about to ran to find him but Hank took her arm.

"Wait!"

She didn't fight. She stood there totally frozen, until a minute later Charles and Moira apeared. Just then she breathed again.

"Today our fighting stops!" She heard a voice coming from the submarine.

Erik was floating bringing with him a dead body. It was Shaw!

"He killed him!" Rose exclaimed with horror and Hank nodded.

Slowly, Hank pulled her towards Alex and Raven that were carrying Sean. Erik let Shaw fall and Rose flinched.

"Take off your blinders, brothers and sisters" Erik said as he swiftly landed on the sand. He signaled the war ships on the ocean. "The real enemy is out there. I feel their guns moving in the water. Their metal targeting us" He signaled himself "Americans, Soviets, Humans. United in their fear of the unknown. The Neanderthal is running scared, my fellow mutants! Go ahead Charles."

Charles and him had been walking towards the shore. Charles put her finger in his temple

"Tell me I am wrong" Erik wagered.

Slowly, Charles let her hand fall and turned to Moira. She didn't waste a second and ran to try to communicate with the Americans… but she never got an answer.

Hundreds of missiles were flaying towards the mutants. Rose couldn't help to hug Alex, who was the nearest one to her. He put an arm around her and both waited for death. But just as the missilew were going to reach the ground, Erik raised a hand and stopped them in the air. Then he turned them around.

"Eric, you said yourself, we are the better man" Charles tried to reason with him "It's time to prove it" Erik was ignoring him. "There are thousands of men on those ships. Good, honest, inocent men! They are just following orders"

Raven called Rose.

"Do something!"

Rose shook her head, letting go of Alex.

"I can't. I…I've lost concentration. I could hurt Charles!" She whispered to her blue female friend.

"I've been at the mercy of men just following orders."Erik said and turned to Charles "Never again"

And the missiles started flying again, this time going towards the Americans and Soviets' ships.

"Erik, release them!"Charles yelled and got ignored once again, so he started to run to Erik and launched himself at Erik "NO!"

They both started fighting on the sand. Charles was trying to get that weird helmet from Erik. Rose wished she could control metal instead of men. And yet, she couldn't even do that. Sean, Hank, Rose, Alex and Raven took a step towards them, but Erik sent flying the men of the group.

"Stand back!" He yelled.

He stood up once again redirecting the missiles. But then, Moira appeared and started shooting at him with a pistol. She shot many times, but Erik avoided each one of them redirecting them. Then everything stopped, and only a scream was heard.

The missiles fell into the ocean. Even at distance, Rose heard the Americans and Soviets celebrating. But her head was in the beach, where Charles was agonizing over the sand. Erik ran to him and tried to helped him. Erik had sent a bullet to Charles. Especifically to Charles' spine. He apologized many times and even tried to murder Moira with her metal necklace. Raven had her hands over her mouth and Alex was keeping Rose of running to Charles.

"She didn't do this Erik."Charles murmured "You did"

Only then, Erik let go of her. Rose saw them talking, murmuring at each other, while she fighted so Alex would let her go to Charles. She was finally set free when Erik walked away from Charles. When she reached Charles and Moira she heard Moira apologizing and Charles agonizing in silence. The interesting thing for her was that she could actually feel it. She wasn't feeling Charles' pain, but she could feel that he was in pain. She kneeled beside him and ignored everything Erik was saying.

Then Raven was by her side.

"You…you should go with him" Charles tiredly said to her. "It's what you want"

"You promised me you would never read my mind" She replied to her brother

"I know" He said with some of the last energy he had left "I promised you a great many things, I am afraid. I am sorry"

He kissed her hand and she leaned down to kiss his forehead. Raven turned to Rose.

"Take care of him, please." She begged me. And then turned to Moira "Both of you"

Rose look at her and shook her head. She didn't want her to go, not her too. Finally they were friends, they could be the best friends. An now she was leaving. Moira was watching Raven go as if she couldn't believe she was actually leaving his brother, and Rose was heartbroken.

The last words Rose heard Raven said were:

"And Beast, never forget: Mutant and Proud"

Then a poof was heard, and the guys ran towards Charles, Moira and Rose. Hank and Moira tried to make him stand but he let a cry out.

"Charles, don't move, okay?"

"I won't" Charles said in pain "Actually I…I…I can't….I can't feel my legs. I can't feel my legs! I can't feel my legs!"He cried out loud.

He was screaming in pain and crying his heart out as Hank tried to raise him, that Rose couldn't stand it anymore and raising a single hand and doing a tiny movement with her fingers, made Charles fall sleep.

"Rose…did you?" Hank asked and she nodded.

"Don't… worry" She said as she started to sob. She didn't knew how she had done it but something inside of her, her mutation, was telling her what she had just done to Charles. "He's… he's just…sleep."

And then she fainted.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-men.

She woke up in the nursing room of the hospital. Alex and Hank were there beside her bed. Rose's head felt so heavy when she tried to straighten up.

"Woah, woah. Relax, Rose!" Alex told her as soon as he saw her.

"He's right. You'll be probably feeling dizzy for a few hours." Hank said and gave her a cup with a steaming beverage. "You lost too much blood, but you'll be fine".

"Where is Charles?" It was the first thing she said.

Alex and Hank saw at each other.

"We've been waiting for you to…wake up. He…he hasn't." Hank said with insecure.

As soon as he said that, she tried to get out of the bed.

"Rose, no!" Alex said taking her from her shoulders. "You have to recompose yourself first, and then…"

She gently pushed him and shook her head.

"I have to see him first."

Then, Hank led her to Charles' room. She had never been there, of course, and it surprised them to see that it was as big as any other. Then she saw him, laying on the bed. He seemed clean, and so peaceful. Then she realized that he wasn't alone. Moira was beside him, touching his hand. She smiled at Rose when she saw her.

"Good!" She exclaimed. "You can wake him now."

"She has just woken up and she is still weak." The new blue form of Hank said. "I am not sure if it is the best thing to…"

But Rose had raised a hand. She didn't controlled him to be quiet but he did anyways. She walked slowly towards Charles bed, without taking her eyes off the man lying there. Then she gently put a hand in one of his cheeks and closed her eyes.

Moira and Hank were watching at her, waiting for Charles' response. But then Rose turned back to them.

"He's tired. Too tired." She said returning his gaze at Charles. "I could wake him up now, but if I don't he is surely going to wake up by himself, once he gets enough rest."

"How do you know?" Moira asked her.

"I...just...know it." She whispered "I can feel it" Her gaze was lost and her voice was cracked.

She wanted to wake Charles, but she somehow could feel his tiredness. She didn't want to wake him if he wasn't ready, and just as she had said, he would eventually wake up by himself. Something inside her told her that, but how much it was going to take she didn't know. Meanwhile, she had to stay by his side and look after him... just in case she had had it wrong.

"Moira" She whispered as if Charles was just sleeping and didn't want him to be bothered by her voice. "If you have anything to do... I'll be here with him" Rose said.

"Oh. That would be good. I have to take a shower and go to town, but I'll be back at night" Moira nicely replied.

When the older woman and the blue mutant walked out of Charles' bedroom, Moira asked:

"Do you think she's okay to watch after him?"

Hank was concerned about his young friend, but he knew that he wouldn't had been able to take her apart from Charles. So, he just shrugged.

* * *

The problems started that night when Moira came back.

The CIA agent quietly walked into the room.

"I am back" she whispered Rose, who was sitting beside Charles in the exact same position she had been when she left.

Rose looked at her and saw the woman smiling.

"Good" It was all she said.

Moira moved uncomfortable around the room.

"Have you eat anything?" She asked the young mutant.

"No"

"You should go to have dinner."

"I am fine" Rose replied.

"But you have to eat! You haven't eaten in days. And you have to take a shower, brush your teeth and..."

Rose stood up exasperated at Moira's orders.

" I am just trying to take care of my friend, if you don't mind." She said rudely turning to the older woman " And I am doing what I promised Raven that I would do!"

"Excuse me?" Moira said angry with the mean way Rose was talking to her. " He's my friend, too! And Raven asked the two of us to take care of him!"

Strangely, Rose felt anger towards the woman and her try to stay near Charles. Who was her anyway? Her people had tried to kill them all! They had done "that" to Charles, not directly,but still...

"I am not going out the room!" Rose raised her voice walking towards the woman

"Nor am I!" Moira yelled at her.

"Leave us alone!" Rose yelled back.

"I am just trying to help and help you!" She yelled feeling offended.

"Nobody asked you!"

They were inches apart, fuming at each other, when Hank walked through the door.

"What's happening here?" He asked worried about the yelling.

"The little girl is..."

"How you dare call me..."

Hank didn't wait more. He carried Rose out of the room while she screamed.

"TAKE ME DOWN!"

He did when they arrived at her room. She fell in her bed and turned with indignation at Hank.

"Rose, you are under stress." He said as he kneeled in front of her. " You have just woken up after being unconscious for days. You haven't eaten anything. Charles wouldn't want you fighting with Moira and ignoring your health for him."

He gave her a severe stare and walked out of the room without another word.

* * *

The next morning, after she ate breakfast with Alex, she walked to Charles' room. Moira was there and didn't greet her when she walked in.

"I am sorry...about yesterday." She murmured without looking at Moira, because of her embarrassment. "I was paranoid and I was so rude with you."

She sat beside Moira and the woman as soon as she apologized touch the girl's hand.

"Don't worry."


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own X-men nor their movies.

Exactly, a week later Charles woke up.

Rose and Moira had been taking turns. Rose was with Charles during the day and Moira at night. Even when Moira was with Charles, Rose never walked out of the mansion, since she wanted to be near if she felt any change in Charles.

The day he woke up, Sean and Alex had just left. Sometimes they hanged around to make her company, and they made her laugh so she wouldn't feel so lonely with Charles and when she remembered Raven.  
Rose saw them close the door and she turned to Charles. As ever, she was sitting in a sofa by his bed. She had had a lot of time to think about some matters that had been bothering her. She had decided that once Charles woke up she would tell him how... how she felt about him.

She had saw him as a stranger, then as a mentor, then as someone she could trust, and even though she never had gotten the chance to admit it she saw him as her friend. She couldn't bear to lose another friend without telling him that he was important for her, with Raven was enough.

But it was more than that.

Rose had felt weird around him many times before, but she didn't pay attention to it since she had had more important things to worry about. But as she spended more time taking care of him in his rest, she started to miss the sweet and polite voice he used when he talked to her. She had been missing him calling her "Rosie". She missed the way his blue eyes looked directly at her without fear of being "controlled". And she missed his smile. Maybe it was wrong to just tell him, but she was hopeful that maybe, just maybe someday he could feel the way she was feeling. She could wait.

She had been sitting by his bed during all that week and finally she let herself take his hand.

As soon as her skin touched his, he moved over the bed. She let go of him, worried that maybe she had woken him up. But she felt how he felt and he was rested. He had had enough rest and wanted to wake up.

Slowly he opened his eyes and the first thing he saw and said was:

"Rosie. It's enchanting to wake up and watch your face" He murmured.

Oh, how she had missed that! She felt a knot in her throat and nodded.

"How are you?" She whispered.

He straight up and smiled at her.

"I...I..." He stuttered. It wasn't a normal thing to hear him doing it, but waking up and finding Rose with him was an stunningly surprise. " What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?" She asked him.

Then, a hundred flashbacks came back at him. Cuba, Erik...Raven. Unconsciously he touched his right leg. Rose saw him doing it and the knot intensified in her throat.

"I am sorry." She whispered lowering her head. " I wish I could have done something"

Charles reached for her chin and slowly raised her face.

"Don't blame yourself" He said shaking his head. "Please. I am okay."

His gaze moved to the cured wound near her temple. Slowly, he traced it with his fingers and she closed her eyes as she felt this. When she opened them, he was sweetly smiling at her.

"I am so happy you are finally awake" She told him. " I... Moira and I have been waiting for you to wake up. I...I've been waiting to... To talk with you."

This last thing dragged Charles out of his fantasy. He remembered who she was and what he had talked with Erik. Erik... He was gone, and he had done terrible things, but he was right. He stopped himself of touching Rose's face.

She felt the absence of his touch and felt the urge to feel it again. She wasn't experienced at all in the romantic territory. She knew as much as a young teenager about it, even though her 20th birthday was near. If she had known more, maybe she would'd stayed quiet…

"I wanted to talk to you. I've...I said to myself that I would tell you once you woke up" She said quickly and with a hint of excitement.

Charles was petrified. It was happening and all he could hear was Erik's voice in his head. He had too much to do, he couldn't get distracted. He had to take care of her... of his students. And it felt...wrong.

" I've been feeling like..."

"Rose, wait..."

" But, I have to tell you..."

"Rose..."

"Charles, I think I..."

"Rose!" He exclaimed making her shut up.

She saw at him confused. She was trying to tell the man how she felt... But she saw it in his eyes, and she felt it. Her mutation felt it. He didn't want to hear anything else. He tried to talk many times but he couldn't. Finally he said:

"Where is Moira?"

Rose felt like if she had been trying to give him a letter and he had thrown it at her. She didn't get to say it and already felt rejected. Charles saw the hurt in her eyes and turned his gaze away from her. He was being like he had acted in the plane of Cuba, she noticed. Slowly, she stood up, lowered her head once again and murmured:

"I'll…tell her you want to see her"

Then, even slowlier she walked out of the room without looking at him.

Charles said to himself many times that the only reason why he felt so bad was because he had just turned down a young girl with no experience at all, while he had already lived too much, only that. Not that he was regretting what he had just done. No, of course not! He didn't, did he?

* * *

Hours later, Rose was sitting in a couch of the main hall reading a book. Alex was laying in the same couch, with his head on Rose's lap while he launched a little ball to the air just to catch it again. Sean was wandering around the room, asking Rose senseless things when he exclaimed:

"Omg! What are those two doing?"

Then he ran towards one of the windows. Rose and Alex saw at each other and ran behind him. Charles and Moira where in the gardens, Charles in his new wheelchair and Moira had been pushing him. They were talking about Charles' mansion's future. It was when Moira leaned towards Charles when Sean saw them through the window. The three young mutants where spying them.

"What are you doing?" Hank asked as he walked inside the main hall.

Sean shushed him and signaled him to go with them. Now, there were four mutants watching through the windows.

Rose's heart was pumping inside her chest and lightly shook her head.

"Please, no" She thought.

And it happened. She saw Charles and Moira kissing and she felt suddenly sick. She had known that she felt something for Charles, but until that moment she realized the truthfulness of it. Sean was about to cheer for the oldest members of the family, when they saw Charles putting his fingers on his temple. Then, Moira robotically and slowly pulled apart from Charles and walked away from him.

Charles stood there, looking at nothing. The four mutants inside the house didn't make a sound until they heard Moira's car driving away. Only then, the young men started to asked:

"What happened?"

"What's wrong with Charles?"

"Is mother never coming back?"

They walked away from the window, but Rose stood there. Then, Charles turned to the window and saw her. She looked heartbroken. He knew she had saw them, it was part of his plan.

"I am so terribly sorry, Rose" He thought. "It's for everyone's good."

But his gaze didn't say that. He was watching blankly at her, and it only made Rose feel worse. She walked away from the window confused.

* * *

Since that day, she changed. Changed for worse. She didn't talked too much, she didn't eat to much. She tried to look emotionally good in front of the men in the house, but she knew she felt some emptiness. She acted like that for days, weeks. When more mutants arrived she was more closed, except maybe with the youngest ones. Now she only had Havok and sometimes Banshee and Beast. Professor X was too busy running his new school for mutants. She closed herself to everyone. She couldn't became a teacher, because she started to lose control of her powers again…

Then Alex came around.

END OF FIRST CLASS

(A/N: Yep, that's it...for First class. Now it is time for Days of the future past! Tbh I wrote first class a long time ago and now I see many mistakes I did while writing it(specially with my OC Rose), but yeah I definitely prefer what I wrote of DOFP over FC. I didn't know if I should make another entry for DOFP but I decided to post the three parts(because I already have Apocalypsis written down) right here. So, yeah. Reviews, favs and follows are welcomed ;) )


	15. Chapter 15 DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

_Disclaimer: I do not own X-men...yet._

* * *

 _X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST_

 _So few of us left_

"Professor?" A voice called Charles Xavier.

"I've found them" He answered and turned in his chair.

They had finally arrived in China. They were looking for their young mutant fellows hiding in the Chinese mountains. Their supersonic jet landed outside on some ancient ruins. Bishop had been waiting for their arrival.

The first one who walked out of their jet was Storm, who used her ability to appease the fog around her. Wolverine was the second one. He stopped, turned on his ciggarete and continued. The next one was Professor Charles Xavier coming down in his levitating chair and after him came Erik Lensherr, better known as Magneto.

Young mutants started to appear around them.

"Professor!" A voice called. It was Bobby, one of Charles' old students.

"Bobby" Storm said spreading her arms.

"Hey, Storm" He hugged her.

"Hey, kid" Logan, the Wolverine, said and Bobby nodded at him.

"Professor, you made it" A sweet voice said and Kitty walked out of the ruins followed by Colossus.

Kitty he smiled at Charles. She had always felt so grateful with him for taking care of her when she was little.

They walked into the ruins and the young mutants explained how they had survived the massacre around the world created by the Sentinels.

"…and then we leave before they ever know we were there." Kitty finished.

"Because… we never were" Warpath said.

"What do you mean you were never there?" Logan asked.

"She projects Bishop back in time a few days to warn the others…" Charles explained "of the coming attack"

"So, she sends Bishop back in time?"

"No, just his consciousness, into his younger self, his younger body" The Professor said.

"Wow" Logan quirked and eyebrow.

"This might just work, Charles" Magneto said.

"What might work?" Kitty interfered.

"The Sentinel Program was originally conceived by Doctor Bolivar Trask." The Professor X said "In the early 70's, he was one of the world's leading weapon designers. But covertly, he had begun experimenting on mutants using their gifts to fuel his own research. There was one mutant who had discovered what he was doing…"

"A mutant with the ability to transform herself into anyone" Magneto intervened.

"Mystique" Colossus said.

"I knew her as Raven" Charles said. "We met when we were children, grew up together…She was like a sister to me." He silenced for a moment, as he remembered her. " I tried to help her, but only succeded in driving her away. She and another mutant hunted Trask across the world and at the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, after the Vietnam War…they found Trask…and killed him…It was the first time both of them killed…purposely."

"Wasn't Mystique's last" Logan murmured as he remembered all the meetings he had had with her the past years.

"But killing Trask did not have the outcome they expected" Charles continued as the mutants around him, illuminated only by the candles Warpath had turned on, nodded. "It only persuaded the government of the need for his program. They captured her, tortured her companion in front of her until she died and experimented on them. In Raven's DNA they discovered the secrets of her powers of transformation. It gave them the key they needed to create weapons that could adapt to any mutant power. And in less than 50 years, the machines that have destroyed so many of our kind were created. But it all started that day in 1973…the day of their first kill."

Storm had known him for many years, but until now she really saw the hidden gloom in Charles' voice as he told the story.

"The day they truly became…Mystique and Siren"

"You wanna get back there" Kitty realized and Bobby beside her turned to her.

"If I can get to them, stop the assassination, keep them out of their hands, then we can stop the Sentinels from ever being born"

"And end this war before it even begins" Magneto said.

Charles nodded and the young mutants looked at each other.

"I…I can send someone back a couple weeks. Maybe a month…"Kitty said " But you talk about going back decades. You have the most powerful brain in the world, Professor… but the mind can only stretch so far before it snaps. It would rip you apart. I'm sorry."

Logan heard her in silence, he's mind already creating a backup plan.

"What if someone's mind has a way of snapping back?" Logan said. "What if someone can heal as fast as they're ripped apart?"

After Storm gave the young mutants a lecture, they accepted Logan's new plan. They didn't lose any time and as soon as possible Logan was in front of the rock table where his body would lay. The Professor and Magneto where behind him.

"So, I wake in my younger body, God knows where." He said giving them his back. "Then, what?"

"You'll need to go to my house and find me." Charles levitated towards him "Convince me of all of this."

"Won't you be able to just read my mind?"

"I didn't have my powers in 1973. Logan, you are going to have to do for me what I once did to you. Lead me, guide me. I was a very different man then. You'll have to be patient with me."

"Patience isn't my strongest suit"

"You'll need me as well" Magneto walked towards them

"What?" Logan asked.

"After Mystique left Charles, she came with me… and I set her on a dangerous path, a darker path." He lowered his head "It's going to take the two of us, side by side… at a time when we couldn't be further apart"

Wolverine looked at Charles and he was nodding.

"Great," Logan said sarcastically turning around "where do I find you?"

"Well, it's complicated"

Then as Logan was laying in the rock table, Charles approach him.

"Before you go, I want to ask you for a personal favor" He said to Logan and Logan nodded. "I want you to look after Siren" He said and Logan couldn't be more confused.

All he knew about the so called Siren was that she was Mystique's parter in crime. He had never heard or seen that woman before. How was he supposed to help her? Also, was she actually a "she" or a "he"?

"Just… " Charles whispered with a moved voice "try to prevent her death this time."

Kitty sat behind Logan and explained what was he getting into. It was going to be a race against time, since the damned sentinels could arrive at any time. The worst part of all was that he had to have "peaceful thoughts" all the time.

"This might sting a little" It was the last thing he heard before the pain arrived.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer:I'm cryin' 'cause i don't own X-Men and La la land didn't win the Oscar :C

* * *

In 1973, Raven infiltrated in an American army base at Saigon in Vietnam.

After Erik was thrown in prison she wandered around the world alone. In one of her travels, years after Erik's imprisonment, she met Caliban. He was a strange man with the ability of tracking any mutant. They were never real friends. He only wanted money, and Raven wanted her friends whereabouts. After looking too long for them, Angel, Azazel or Riptide, she gave up.

One time, Caliban told her after she let him stay at her place, because he was running away of a debt:

"I know I owe you this one. And you know how I don't like to have debts" He said ironically and she rolled her eyes. "One of your friends is right now in the American base at Saigon…"

He didn't want to give her more information about the topic, therefore she threw him out of her temporal apartment. As soon as she was alone an ocean of possibilities drowned her. Was it Angel, Riptide? Maybe Azazel?

She didn't lost time any time and walked out of her temporary home.

She blended as one Colonel of the American forces. As soon as she arrived at the camp at Saigon, she heard the whispers of soldiers around about a group of people... Different people. Everyone were going back home, except that group of "different people". Raven wasn't sure if by different people they meant mutants, but she was about to discover it.

She found the tend were they were being confiscated as if they were things and not people. A young men stood on her way.

"Can I help you, Colonel?"

"Just here to give our boys a proper send-off" She answered with a man's voice.

"I am sorry, sir, but we have orders. This is a quarantined area."

"Stand aside, soldier" She said with a low but authoritative voice. "That's an order"

Then the young soldier opened her the door. She walked through darkness until she reached the men's beds.

"Atten-hut!"

A voice yelled, making the men sitting in their beds to stand up and show respect to the "Colonel", that was Raven. As soon as she saw them, she knew they were mutants.

"At ease" He(she) said and they relaxed again.

As Raven walked between the rows of beds she saw at each one of them. There was a weird boy with some kind of tattoo around his right eye, a somber man with dark skin and spines as hair, and then she saw him, what Caliban had been talking about. It wasn't one of her team friends, it was Alex! Her old friend Alex Summers. The last time she had seen him had been almost 10 years before.

She winked at him and Alex frowend at the weird Colonel's attitude.

"What is all this?" She asked once she got near the table at the back of the tent.

"Lab reports, blood tests" A man answered the Colonel "It's all getting packed up and shipped back"

She took the folder the man was holding and read it.

"Where is it going?"

"Same place they are" The man was refering to the mutants and Raven felt anger boling inside of her. "Trask Industries"

Then a really young man, to be an officer, walked inside of the tent. Raven heard the man's intentions. He wanted to drug the mutants so they could peacefully take them to a "facility", to Trask Industries. She saw the young mutants face full of scare, so she confronted the blonde man.

"Your man are not military." She said

"Private outfit" The man replied handing her a letter. "We are authorized to remand these men."

Raven looked directly at him and lowered her voice.

"These troops are going home."

"Well, Colonel, I don't believe you have jurisdiction in this matter" The young man told her and she took a step towards him.

"I am afraid I do, son"

"I am sorry, who are you?" The man asked her.

"The question is, Major…" She touched a chain in the boy's chest and turned it to see his name marked on it "who are you?"

She pulled it off and as she did she turned into her blue form. She turned and swiflty knocked down a soldier, then she got onto another one and again she knocked one of Stryker's man out, while she scragged the man. She pushed herself upwards and kicked another soldier in his head. One more, and she sent flying the man from which she was pulling herself to send kicks all around. She fell graciously on the ground and saw around her before bringing down another man using her legs.

The young mutants joined her in the battle. Alex saw her with impression. She had learned to fight the time she was away.

The fight ended when she was strangling Stryker.

"Raven!" Alex called her.

"That's not my name" She said without taking her eyes out of Stryker's already red ones.

Then Alex raised a hand and with a beam of energy, he sent Stryker flying away. He fell unconscious on the floor. Raven turned to Alex.

"I had that!"

"I know" He said and she ignored him.

"Let's move out! Come on, let's go!" She commanded.

"Where is Erik?" Alex asked her.

"I'm on my own now" She answered without turning back.

They found a plane that was about to leave. The young mutants ran inside of it but Alex stayed back.

"You're not coming with us, sir, are you?" He asked Raven.

"My war's not over. The enemy is still out there" She turned around and walked away.

Alex decided to let her be, besides he had more important things to worry about now. Once the plane lifted off, Raven changed herself into her human form but with military uniform. She had to find out who was Trask and what he wanted with the mutants.

* * *

After a ridiculous scene created by his younger self, in which he had been shot and followed by his boss's daughter, Logan finally arrived at Xavier's mansion. He saw the old sign of "Xavier's school for gifted youngsters" on the entrance's floor and realized that everything was going to be harder than he had thought. He parked the car he had gotten in front of the mansion's principal door. The garden was all messed up, as if nobody had grazed it in years.

He knocked the door and patiently waited until a tall young man with glasses opened the door for him.

"Can I help you?" The boy asked him.

"Yeah, what happened to the school?"

"The school's been shut for years." The boy said as if it was general knowledge. "Are you a parent?"

Logan gave a quick laugh.

"I sure as hell hope not. Who are you?"

"Hank. Hank McCoy" The blue eyed answered through the partially opened door and Logan took his sunglasses off "I look after the house now"

"You are Beast?" Logan funnily mocked while the young man looked impressed. "Look at you. I guess you are a late bloomer."

"I don't know what you are talking about but I am gonna have to ask you to leave." He tried to close the door in Logan's face but the older mutant didn't let him.

"So where is the professor?"Logan asked him while Hank fought to close the door.

"There is no professor here."

"You are pretty strong for a scrawny kid" Logan made fun of him "You sure there is not a little Beast in there?"

"No, he is not here" Hank said while pushing the door.

"Come on, Beast! Come on Beastie!"

Finally, Hank gave up and Logan got into the house. Hank tried to stop him, to reason with him and then physically stopped him, but he only received a punch in his face.

"We are going to be good friends…you just don't know it yet."Logan said before walking up the stairs to look for Charles.

He was walking through the corridors he knew too well, when he was attacked by the blue Beast. Minutes later, he was flying towards the stairs and then he flied again towards a wood table in the middle of the principal room of the mansion, while Beast was hanging from the chandelier over him, trying to hurt him with his claws.

"Hank?" A voice coming from the stairs asked catching both fighting man's attention. "What's going on here?"

"Professor?" Logan asked.

"Please don't call me that" The young telepath, Charles Xavier, said as he stared down to Logan and Hank.

"Why? You know this guy?" Hank asked him.

"Yeah he looks slightly familiar… Get off the bloody chandelier, Hank"

With a quick motion Hank returned to the ground.

"You can walk" Logan said once he saw Charles' face.

"You're a preceptive one." He mocked at the man with weird sideburns.

"I thought Erik…"

"Which it makes it slightly perplexing that you missed the sign on the way in. This is private property, my friend." Young Charles told him as he got down of the wood table. "I'm gonna have to ask him to ask you to leave" Charles said as he pointed at a blue and furry Hank.

"Well, I am afraid I can't do that because…" Logan said "…because I was sent here for you"

"Tell whoever it was that sent you that I'm busy."

"That's gonna be a little tricky..." Logan said. That was the moment of the truth. "because the person who sent me was you."

"What?" Charles asked him.

"About fifty years from now"

They kept silence for a moment, and then Charles laughed.

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A/N: Thanks for your reviews! I really appreciate it 3


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own X-men and Omg I watched Logan yesterday /3

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"Let's just say that for the sake of…"Charles said minutes later.

He was laying on a couch with a glass of alcohol in his hand. Logan and Hank were sitting in front of him. The time traveler had just explained as much as he could about his dark world and that Raven was the main cause of it.

"…the sake, I…I choose to believe you" The telepath continued. "that I choose to help you. Raven won't listen to me" He shook his head with a cynical smile and then his voice became melancolic " Her heart and soul belong to someone else now"

"I know." Logan replied " That's why we're gonna need Magneto, too, and…"

"Erik? You do know where he is?" Hank interrupted.

"Yeah."

Charles started to laugh at Logan and he, Wolverine, was suddenly starting to hate the mutant that had once been his mentor. This man in front of him was so different to the one from the future and he was drowning himself in alcohol.

"Could you give me that one more time, please?" Xavier mocked.

"You heard me." Logan was totally annoyed, he wanted to kick the telepath's arse until he stopped laughing at him so cynically.

"He's where he belongs."

"You're just gonna walk out?" Logan asked as he literally saw the man walking out of the room.

"Ooh, top marks. Like I said, you are perceptive…"

"The Professor I know would never turn his back..."Logan said "on someone who'd lost their path. Especially someone he loved. If you keep up with this…That girl is going to die, too. The one you talked to me about. Siren"

Charles had just given him his back, but when he heard this last thing he dropped his glass and it shattered in pieces on the floor. His back was tense and slowly and threateningly he turned around.

"You know... I think I do remember you now." Charles said as he walked to Logan "Yeah. Tall, angry fellow with the contentious hair. We came to you a long time ago... seeking your help. And I'm gonna say to you what you said to us then. Fuck off!"

Logan took him fiercely from the collar of his clothes.

"Listen to me, you little shit. I've come a long way, and I've watched a lot of people die. Good people. Friends. If you're gonna wallow in self-pity... and do nothing, then you're gonna watch the same thing... you understand?"

He let go of Charles and the telepath gave him a last hearbrokened look as he said:

"We all have to die sometime."

When Charles disappeared Hank said:

"Told you there was no Professor here"

"What the hell happened to him?"

Hank lowered his voice and took his glasses off, before walking behind the wodden desk.

"He lost everything. Erik, Raven, his legs…We built the school, the labs, this whole place…" He closed the bottle of alcohol on the desk. "Then, just after the first semester… the war in Vietnam got worse. Many of the teachers and older students were drafted " He shook his head." One of them was a guy, Alex Summers."

Logan tried to remember anything about that name, but he didn't find anything. The only person he could think about when he heard the name was in his former partner Scott, Scott Summers. Was there any relation between…? No way!

"He had a girlfriend…" Hank said nervously playing with his glasses. "When he left, she begged Charles to do something so he could return. She had an… ability slightly similar to Charles, so she could have done something…"

"But she wanted to make Charles do the dirty work for her?" Logan asked and Hank nodded.

"Something like that. She had control over her ability, but I don't think she totally developed it..." Hank's gaze was lost somewhere in the past as he remembered her old friend and how scared she was of herself when she first went to reunite with him and the other young mutants, 10 years before. "Charles was too busy at that time. That's when he started to use the serum I created. The whole school was going down and he was getting stressed. He didn't do anything to help her…" Logan was looking now with interest at Hank. "Then, one day, we woke up and found a letter from Rose."

Rose? Who the hell was Rose? Was she this kid, Summer's girlfriend? He infered it.

"She had left us" Hank looked uncomfortable talking about this. "She said, in the letter, that she was going to look for Alex…she would enlist as a nurse in Vietnam. She signed the letter as "Siren", the mutant nickname Alex had given her."

Hank shrugged.

"I…I never…never told this to anybody, but…but I…" Hank shook his head, leaned to Logan and whispered: "but…I think…that Charles never looked at her as just…his student."

Logan wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what the kid was trying to say and it totally surprised him. When the Charles that he had always known asked him his "personal favor", he thought that he had simply done it to safe another mutant's life. He never thought that he was going to find that the Professor, the only person he could almost see as his own father and that he had seen single all the time he knew him, had had one "thing" for one of his students during his youth.

"It broke him" Hank said "He retreated into himself….

Hank explained at Logan the serum "issue" Charles also had, while upstairs in his room Charle was laying his bed remembering her sister, but he was also remembering "her". Rose Antonelli. What Logan had just told him was haunting him

"He's just lost too much." Hank said downstairs.

Upstairs, Charles remembered his first meeting with the girl that would become his sister and also one of his first conversations with the woman that would get stucked in his heart for many years. He could still, hear her voice at nights and he could even hear their last talk. The fight.

" _I am disappointed of you" Rose had told him. "I never knew you would turn your back to all your students, being drafted to war…"_

" _This is not about them." Charles had said as he sat over his desk, and poured a drink for himself."Is it?"_

 _That had been the last time he saw her. She was wearing a large brownish skirt, and a conservative blouse. She had always been too proper, never showing off her atributes. Her hair was falling to her waist and it was tied up in two large pigtails. She was 25 year old back then and the hippie style was starting in the USA._

" _You want me to bring Alex back." Charles said cynically folding his arms. "You are not worried about the other students"_

 _Of course she was only worried about Alex, but she was never going to admit that._

" _I told him that I could help him." Charles started moving his gaze out off her._

 _He couldn't stand seeing her too much as he had been able in the past. It wasn't because of her mutation, but it hurted him to see her so close of him and yet so far. It was more difficult for him if she was begging him._

" _He told me that he wanted to go to fullfil his duty with his country…"_

" _He didn't know what he was talking about!" She exclaimed._

" _And you know it?" Charles had asked her._

" _Of course! I know him better than anyone. I'm…I'm…"_

" _His girlfriend." Charles finished for her._

Since the day Moira had left the mansion with the memory erased, what had happened had been following him for months; Charles regretted it. Then the school started and he got too busy, taking care of the new young mutants. He had thought that Alex, Hank, Rose and Sean didn't need him anymore, so he focused in the younger students. Alex and Sean became teachers, but Rose never accepted becoming one. It wasn't until years later that he discovered that she had lost the grip in her mutation. He always used to watch her through the windows, playing with the children. She had always liked children. So he hadn't realized what was going on with her. He always had an eye on her, but did as much as he could so he wouldn't get in her mind. They were living in the same house, but she acted as if Charles was a stranger. He couldn't blame her, but it always broke his heart to see her treating him so politly, but so…curtly.

Once the school stabilized itself, Charles had more free time and tried to spend it with her old friends and students. That was when Sean admited he wanted to go to the army. Charles couldn't change his mind and he wasn't going to get in his head to change it. Sean left and Alex was too busy with his classes. Charles spent most of the time marauding around Rose or in Hank's laboratory.

Four years after Cuba, he realized that he couldn't take Rose out of his head. He tried to shut Erik's words out of it. He was almost 29 and Rose was 24 years old, they were both adults. He tried to talk to her again… but he didn't know how. And then it started happening, Charles' greatest secret, but that's another story.

However, it didn't last, because one night Rose and Alex announced their relationship. That was one of Charles' worst days ever, the day the woman he loved started a relationship with one of his closest friends.

" _Yes. That's why I want you to bring him back." She said a year later of the start of her realtionship with Alex. "I know you can, you are the only one that can do it. You could use Cerebro and…"_

 _But Charles was tired of hearing her talking about Alex. It was broking his heart. He had bear seeing her with Alex Summers, but hearing her talking about him was worse._

" _You could also do something, you know? He's still here, in the US." Charles spat out putting his drink on his desk. "Why don't you just go after him and bring him back? Why do you want me to do it for you…?"_

" _You want me to…control him?" She interrupted him. "I've never purposely done it and I don't want to start doing it. You can get in some army leader's heads and forbid him of going to Vietnam! He is your friend, and so am I! I have never asked you a favor, and…"_

" _I am not doing it." Charles simply said and turned away from her._

 _They stood in silence. Rose was petrified._

" _I…I am…so. Dissapointed. Of. You." She almost whispered it since her tears were drowning her._

 _This was enough to trigger Charles. He took long strides towards her and held her from her arm, his face inches away from hers._

" _Why don't you tell me the truth?" He murmured with a fierce force and a tightened grip on her, while he saw directly at her black orbs. "Why don't you admit that the real reason of this is because you are afraid of being here with me and that you don't want to be cheat with your mind while he is away?"_

 _He had been under a terrible pressure with the start of the Vietnam war, the school was slowly going down an he was starting to drink more. He had just said what he wanted to be truth, but was it?_

" _If you want him back…" He murmured near her ear. "Go after him yourself"_

 _Rose looked at him with horror and pushed him. She started to cry there, in front of him and then ran out of his study._

Yeah, that had been the last time he saw her. And after that he had been blaming himself after she ran away. He could still hear his own voice in his head, from the day he met her in that metal prison she had been locked in.

" _I won't force you or anyone to come with us, nor am I going to beg you...But, if you come with us, we can help you. I can help you. " He had said_.

He had promised her many times that he was going to help her, guide her and guard her… But he didn't do it.

Then, Charles turned to the table beside his bed. He saw the picture he had of Raven. The girls nedeed him. He couldn't leave them alone, not again.

"I'll help you get them" Charles said after he walked down the stairs of the mansion and got in his old study, where Hank and Logan were. "Not for any of your future shite, but for them."  
"Fair enough." Logan said"  
"But I'll tell you this. You don't know Erik. That man is a monster, a murderer. You think you can convince Raven and Rose to change? To come home? That's splendid. But what makes you think you can change him?"  
"Because you and Erik sent me back here together." Logan answered Charles.  
If they had only knew that they could have spared Rose from suffering, by looking for her right then… But they still had to take Eric out of prison.

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(A/N: Please, Please review and thank to all those who are doing it! I really love reading them!)


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, just Rose.

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Raven arrived at a kindergarten colorfully painted. She was in her human form, of course, as she walked in, towards the main office. A redheaded girl, chewing gum and writing in a small notebook, was sitting behind the desk. Raven cleared her throat and the girl raised her head to watch the blonde woman that had just approached her desk.

"Can I help you?" She said trying to seem professional, as if she wanted to show that she was really perfect for her job.

"I was looking for..." Raven said as she watched the disgustingly cute stickers on the walls and then turned to the redhead. " Flor Castillos?" She flinched as she said the new fake name of one of her old friends, well, if Caliban hadn't been lying to her about it.

"You mean Miss. Castillos, don't you?" The girl asked taking a look at the schedule on her desk and then she pointed at a great glass door that was connected to the backyard of the small kindergarten. " She's outside in the playground with the kids. Are you a parent?"

But Raven had already walked out through the glass door. As soon as she was out a little girl walked and stared at her. She had a lighter tone of blonde than Raven's human form and was wearing glasses. Raven looked at her and changed her light blue eyes into red ones. The girl ran away screaming and Raven smiled. After she left Charles, was left by Erik, then left their mutant group she changed a lot. Now she wasn't fond in humans, not even human children. She walked around the playground until she saw a lady sitting on the grass with little kids around her.

She was stunningly glorious as ever. Her hair was extremely way larger than the last time Raven had seen her. Now it could almost reach her knees and it was too beautiful braided. Also she had flowers stuck on it. If Raven had arrived earlier she would had been able to see the children placing them on her head. She was older, Raven noticed too. She wasn't the same 19 year old she had met and it was reflected in her flawless features.

Then she raised her head and saw Raven. She stated as if she had just seen a ghost and actually Raven was one. A ghost from the past.

"Kids" She said with the same accented voice Raven remembered " You can now go to play"

The kids ran to the play ground and the 28 year old slowly raised from the grass.

"Raven?" She asked.

"Rose" Raven replied.

Rose Antonelli took long steps and hugged her old friend, before Raven could stopped her. Raven stood there surprised. It had been years since the last time she had been hugged. Slowly she put her arms around the younger woman and smiled. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander back at when she was young and she met her first mutant friends, beside Charles. Of course, then she found a new team... And that thought brought her back to reality.

After Vietnam she decided that she had to discover which were Trask Industries' plans with mutants. One night she made a visit to their principal building and yes, she found something, but it was the most terrible thing. She transformed into Trask, infiltrated in his office and found many documents about this new weapons he was creating against mutants, the Sentinels. In one of those documents she found what she had been looking for years.

Now she wanted revenge, she wanted to kill Trask, but she knew that it wasn't going to be easy. It had never been easy for her when she was alone. That's why she decided to seek for help. But who? Erik was in prison, her team was gone and Charles' team was never going to accept it. She wasn't stupid to ask them. Then she found Caliban once again and she made him get drunk to get information.

 _"I need you to tell me where I can find a mutant to hunt Trask"_

 _"Why can't I come with ya'?" He asked almost crying since the alcohol affected him more easily because of his mutation._

 _"Because, you are useless to fight"_

 _"Remember I met ya' when ya' was a defenseless, poor, ugly and lonely thing!"_

 _Raven rolled her eyes as she watched him becoming a drama queen._

 _"I HELP YA'. I..." He yelled and took a sip of his vodka and passed a hand over his bald head as if he was combing some invisible hair._

 _Then he took her from a shoulder and murmured in her ear._

 _"There is a guuurl..." He said as if he was telling a secret he couldn't tell " I can see herrr. She's in Mississippi and works in a kindergarten in a little town, Neive."_

 _Raven tried to get free of his grip, thinking that her plan hadn't worked and he was hallucinating._

 _"She's an old friend of you..."_

 _That catched Raven's attention. She thought of Angel but quickly discarded it when she remembered what she saw at Trask Industries. Then, who?_

 _"She's Flor Martinez now, but you knew her as... Rose Antonelli"_

Raven didn't waste time. She traveled to Neive, Mississippi. The town was really little and old, and it was lost somewhere in the woods. To find it was the hardest part. It was so little that there was only a single kindergarten in the whole town, and that was the easiest part for Raven.

Rose let her go and rubbed her eyes, since she had dropped some tears. Raven's mistakes in the past were forgotten. Rose was dying of happiness and with her attitude Raven forgot for a moment why she had gone to search her.

"How...?" Rose asked as she pulled Raven down to sit in the grass.

"A... man, one of us, told me I could find you here." She answered. "You changed! You look..."

Rose laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Older, I know." She took Raven's hands and squeezed them " You look the same. You haven't changed a thing!"

" Perk of my gift" She said proudly.

After she left Charles she started to love her mutation. Erik helped her to learn to love it. Rose gave her a quick hug once again.

"Why...why are you here?" Rose asked her trying not so sound rude, since she was only curious.

" I..." Raven remembered everything.

"Did anyone send you...?" Rose asked and Raven heard a trace of discomfort.

"No! I..."

"Billy!" Rose exclaimed. "Get down!"

Raven turned to see who was she talking to. It was a little kid climbing a tree. When Rose said this the kid did as he was told in a robotic manner. When she turned to Rose, she saw the ashy blonde woman sighting.

"You still can't control it." Raven said.

Rose shook her head.

"Before you left, exactly the day of Cuba, I got a perfect control of it. But after you left and I..." She closed her mouth.

Raven knew that she was hiding something and that she was about to lie to her. Rose was so obvious. She was just too good. Only then, Raven realized that maybe going to her asking for help to kill a man hadn't been the best idea. She felt anger, she was so desperate; she wanted justice for her friends and she wanted Trask's head.

"I don't know what happened...but I lost the control of it." Rose said with sadness, as if she was remembering something.

It didn't matter how old she was, Rose Antonelli was always going to have that hint of innocence and purity in her eyes, Raven realized. She felt as if she was still talking with the 19 year old Rose. She was less shy and she wasn't nervous when she talked, but she was still too good. And she was still a little scared of her mutation.

Rose had a brief glimpse of the past and her heart flinched at the embarrassing and heartbreaking memory of her past. But then Raven saw her sweetly smiling.

"But then Alex...my Alex helped me." She said with a lovely voice that left Raven disoriented.

"Did you date Alex Summers or something?"

Rose nodded with a smile. Raven saw it in her smile, she really loved him. Raven was surprised at that information. She was about to tell Rose she had just seen Alex in Vietnam, but an idea came to her.

"Charles and Hank were too busy starting the school, and Sean stubbornly entered the army. Alex was the only one who helped me and I got a grasp of it again...But then he got drafted and sent to Vietnam..."

Now she looked sad, but she looked even sadder with the next thing she said.

" I fought with Charles..." She whispered " and ran away to look for Alex. I became a nurse in Vietnam..." Her gaze was lost while Raven was threateningly looking at the grass. "but I never found him" She sighted and smile. "I returned to America like a year ago... I sent him a letter telling him where I was. I've been waiting for him. ..."

Rose shook her head and turned to Raven giving her a squeeze at their interlocked hands and smiling again.

"But enough about me. I am probably boring you." She laughed. " So, why did you come?"

Raven looked at her with a hard expression and let go of Rose's hand.

"What's happening?" Rose worryingly asked her.

Raven slowly stood up and took a step away from her. She couldn't. She couldn't do it. It wasn't right! But...

Raven sighted. It was her turn to tell her story.

"After I left you in Cuba I traveled around the world with Erik... And my new team." Raven had a gloomy vibe that was making Rose scared.

Raven had a bitter smile, so slowly Rose stood up.

" We were a family. Then Erik was thrown in jail and we separated. " She started to shake of anger, as she internally blamed herself. " I was alone for many years and then, when I tried to look for them I couldn't... The mutant who told me where you were told me to go to..."

She was about to say Vietnam but she couldn't. She couldn't tell Rose she had seen Alex, she needed her help.

" To?" Rose asked trying to make her talk again.

"To Trask Industries..." Raven gulped feeling the bile in her throat. " That miserable Trask wants to exterminate us with these new weapons he's created. But the worst part is that I..."

"You what?" Rose asked feeling desperate of Raven's numb voice.

" I found some autopsies" Raven said " Trask has been brutally torturing mutants and experimenting with them." Raven closed her eyes and clenched her fists. " I saw Snow...Riptide... Azazel..."

Rose placed her hands on her face with horror and slowly put them over her mouth.

"Angel" Raven said while Rose shook her head.

"Sean..." Raven's voice cracked, she opened her eyes and saw Rose totally heartbroken.

" _I am sorry, Rose_." Raven thought in her own mind " _You are desperate, but so am I_."

"And... Alex." Raven finished.

Rose's hands fell and she stood there paralyzed, with her eyes wide opened and filling with tears. She shook her head and walked towards Raven. Before she could reach her, she fell to her knees and sobbed out loud until her voice failed her. Raven was hugging her since Rose's head was in front of her stomach.  
Women, teachers Raven thought, ran out of the kindergarten and saw the scene. They probably thought that some familiar of Miss. Castillos had died. They took the children inside of the classrooms to show, to the two mutants in the playground, respect.

Rose tried to silence her own cries with her hands, but it was just too much for her. Too much. First, God gave her that horrible ability to control people. Then her mother got sick, her father cheated on her mom and then he died because of Rose, she got into a nunnery where she was treated like Satan's daughter, she lived for many years in jail. When she had found a home and was starting to feel happy her friend abandoned them and her first love rejected her. Later, she got her first boyfriend but he was sent to war, she tried to find him but she never could. Now, when she was finally in a peaceful place, a ghost from the past appeared and told her that her boyfriend... her Alex...had been awfully, brutally and horridly tortured and experimented on. It was too much. She was so tired, so tired of trying to fight against life, because it only pulled her down stronger each time.

She cried for hours. Raven stood there thinking if she had done the right think but a voice in her head was telling her that it was. She needed to avenge her family.

Raven didn't realize when Rose stopped crying, but the sun was going down in the sky and the kindergarten was already empty when she did.

"Why did you come?" Rose asked with a torned voice.

Both were over the grass and Rose was weakly laying on her side while Raven was patting comfortingly her head.

"I want you to help me... I want Trask death" Raven answered.

Slowly, Rose stood up, with a lost gaze in the horizon. Raven stoop up and stared at her. Then Rose turned at her and murmured:

"Count me in"

That same night, both mutants were in an airplane flying to Paris. With Rose's ability they got first class seats. With the anger boiling inside of her, Rose felt a great control of her power after a long time. It was too easy to make the man in the airport's desk do what she wanted.

When the airplane took off and they were able to get out of her seats. Rose stood, excused herself with Raven and went to the bathroom. Once there she threw up and cried. She was feeling nauseous so she returned to her seat beside Raven and fainted in her seat, without anyone noticing it. They all just thought that she was sleeping, even Raven.

She had always had a weak heart.

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Don't forget to review!


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-MEN, but if I did...I would marry Quicksilver.

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"I'm holding your neck so you don't get whiplash."

"What?"

"Whiplash."

After being recruited by Logan, Charles and Hank, Peter Maximoff was taking Erik Lensherr out of his imprisonment. The doors in front of them opened and a group of guards pointing at them with plastic guns came.

"Don't move!" One of them yelled at the fugitives.

Peter had a hand behind Eric and another one in his arm, so a second after the doors opened they arrived at the elevator, knocking out the guards on their way.

"You're good, it'll pass." Peter said after another second, when the elevator's doors closed and he changed his clothes again, from guards clothes to his usual outfit. "It happens with everyone."

Eric was leaning on a wall, trying to catch a breath.

"You must have done something pretty serious." Peter thought out loud. "What did you do, man?' He said teasingly "What did you do? What did you do? Why'd they have you in there?"

"For killing the President." Eric answered annoyed with the teenager without looking at him.

"Ah. Wow." Peter said and turned to the guard he had stucked to the wall and silenced with adhesive tape."Shit."

"The only thing I'm guilty of is fighting for people like us." Eric said

"You take karate? You know karate, man?"

"I don't know karate." Eric answered him "But I know crazy."

Meanwhile Charles and Logan were trying to create an exit for their fugitives

"We're special operations," Charles informed to the men in the kitchens" CB...FB-CID." He awkwardly invented. "Perhaps you didn't hear me when first I spoke... but it is imperative that you understand... we're in a complete lockdown situation. We have to get you to the third floor..."

Before Charles could had finished with his ridiculous try, Logan knocked down the guards that were causing them trouble, only with a frying pan.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you finished?" Logan sarcatically asked Charles and the man took his distance before taking one of the fallen guard's key.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not very good with violence." The ex telepath said as the elevator doors opened, he turned and saw his old fellow.

"Charles?" Erik asked surprised of seeing Charles, of all the people, trying to get him out of prison.

After a good reunion were Charles punched Erik on the face, they got surrounded by many guards pointing at them with plastic guns.

"Nobody move!" One of them yelled. "Hold it right there!"

"Charles." Erik said.

"Don't move." Another guard yelled. "Hands up, or we will shoot!

"Freeze them, Charles."

"I can't." Charles explaimed at Erik.

"Hands up!"

Then the kitchen started to shake when Erik levitated all the metal cookware; pans, knives…

"NO!" Charles shouted and tried to stop Erik.

Peter had been watching these weird men interacting between them. They were his team, no matter how old and odd they were. So, when he saw them in "danger", he put his earphones and goggles on… and then, he did a real Quicksilver move.

* * *

Hours later, Logan was inside a private jet with Erik. He had been reading a newspaper with the title "PEACE TREATY TO BE SIGNED IN PARIS". Erik was about to take it, but Logan stopped the newspaper with his bone claws and slowly turned to Lensherr.

He had never really liked Magneto, not in his time nor this.

"Imagine if they were metal" Erik said as he walked to his seat. "Where did they dig you up?"He asked looking outside of a window.

He had spended too many years at prison. Being out, breathing fresh air was revitalizing.

"You're gonna find this hard to believe..." Logan answered leaning on the table in front of him. "but, uh, you sent me. You and Charles…from the future."

They had been flying for hours. Hank was driving the aircraft, Charles was in a corner of the passenger's area, Erik was far away from him, in the middle, and Logan was sitting in the opposite corner.

"How did you lose them?" Erik asked Charles, refering to his ability of course.

He had been feeling the hard stare of Charles during many hours.

"The treatment for my spine affects my DNA."

"You sacrificed your powers so you could walk?" He asked turning to his ex-friend.

"I sacrificed my powers so that I could sleep." Charles excused himself with an expression of sorrow.

Of course, Erik was never going to understand, he thought. "What do you know about it?"

"I've lost my fair share." Erik answered.

"Ha. Dry your eyes, Erik. It doesn't justify what you've done."

"You have no idea what I've done."

"I know that you took the things that mean the most to me."

Logan watched them interacting and it felt so weird but so familiar. These men were just like the ones he had known all his life. Well… mostly Erik. Charles was a torned up man, now.

"Well, maybe you should have fought harder for them." Erik said and took a glance around the jet. "Another one missing, I see… Where is the girl, Charles? The last time I saw you, you were drooling out for the kid."

"Auch" Logan thought "That was low."

"If you want a fight, Erik..." Charles became agitated.

"Sit down." Logan asked feeling he was babysitting the two grown up men.

"...I will give you a fight!" Charles yelled.

"Let him come." Erik murmured.

"You abandoned me!" Charles shouted gripping at Erik "You took my sister away... and you abandoned me!"

Hank turned from his seat when he heard the noise.

"Angel." Erik said. "Azazel…Emma." The plane started to shake. "Banshee." Hank was losing control of the aircraft because of Erik's power. "Mutant brothers and sisters...all dead! Countless others...experimented on. Butchered!"

"Erik!" Hank called the metal controler.

"Where were you, Charles?" Erik was shouting. "We were supposed to protect them! Where were you when your own people needed you? Hiding! You and Hank!" He was outraged and the jet was falling and crumbling. "Pretending to be something you're not!

"Erik!" Hank yelled.

"You abandoned us all." He finished and let go of the plane.

Logan finally felt himself stabilizing after the aircraft almost fell in the sea. An emotionally hurted Charles stood up and walked away, towards the pilot's cabin with Hank. Logan saw the man disappearing and turned to Erik, while turning on a cigarette and said:

"So, you were always an asshole."

* * *

(A/N):Thanks to everyone that are reviewing. Your reviews help me to improve my writing, even though I wrote this a long time ago. I'll come back soon with a new chapter!


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men.

* * *

Once in Paris, the girls got into an end of war celebration party. It was filled with Vietnam soldiers. Raven was in the bar with a cup of wine. Rose was a little away from her, wearing a scarf around half of her face and sunglasses. She had to go unnoticed or she could have been bothered by men, and both women didn't have that on their plan.

Rose saw how Raven purposedly dropped her cup when a Vietnam general past by her.

"Excuse me." He said to Raven in English.

"I'm pretty sure it was my fault." She replied in his first language.

"You speak Vietnamese." He was surprised.

"I'm an interpreter. I speak many tongues."

"Let me buy you another drink..." The Vietnamese said with a natty smile.

The plan had worked.

The man invited Raven to his bedroom and she accepted. He never knew that they were being followed. Rose waited out of the room with an ear on the door. The man only wanted her friend to "take her clothes off", she heard.

That's when she heard Raven coming to the door. She opened in and Rose got in. The General looked confused with the sudden appearance of the woman with the scarf.

When Raven turned to him she transformed in her natural blue form. The General gave her and scared face.

"What's the matter, baby?" Raven asked going quickly to him "You don't think I look pretty like this?"

Then she started to scrag the man using one of her feet.

"Raven" Rose said as she took her disguise off. "Raven!"

But the blue mutant ignored her, until she saw the man's eyes closing.

"Raven, stop!" Rose yelled at her friend.

Only then, Raven let go the man, who fell unconsciously on the floor. Then, she turned to the crystal table in the middle of the room and took a card about the Peace Accords Ceremony.

"You didn't have to do that to the man!" Rose yelled. "I could have…"

Raven shushed her as she read the letter and then showed it to Rose.

"This man," She signaled the General on the floor. "is our pass to Trask."

Raven walked away from her, and Rose fell on her knees exhausted about everything they had done in that day. She wanted to kill Trak as well, but she wasn't sure about Raven's methodology about hurting anyone in their way.

It wasn't right for her.

* * *

"Fancy a game?" Erik asked Charles after hours of flying.

They played and talked just as the old days. Erik told Charles about what had really happened with Kennedy, and Charles felt so stupid and mistaken.

"We've always said they would come after us. I never imagined they'd use Raven's DNA to do it." Charles said. "When did you last see her?"

"The day I left for Dallas."

"And how was she?" He asked.

"Strong." Erik answered him. "Driven. Loyal."

"How... How was she?" Charles repeated.

"She was... We were..." Erik couldn't find the correct words. "I could see why she meant so much to you. You should be proud of her, Charles. She's out there, fighting for our cause…"

"Your cause." Charles interrupted him and shook his head. "The girl I raised was not capable of killing."

"You didn't raise her; you grew up with her. She couldn't stay a little girl forever, that's why she left."

"She left because you got inside her head."

"That's not my power." Erik top it off "She made a choice."

"But now we know where that choice leads, don't we? She's going to murder Trask, they're going to capture her..." Charles closed his eyes and shook again "I…I think that…that Rose is with her…" He looked directly at Erik's eyes "If they capture them, they will do to them what they did with the others…and then they're going to wipe us out."

"Not if we get to them first." Erik had lowered his voice; it was barely heard." Not if we change history tomorrow…I'm sorry, Charles...for what happened. I truly am."

Charles took a last shot of his drink and started to play with Erik. He tried to lighten the mood, but in the back of his head he was worried. Worried about his sister. Worried about Rose.

* * *

The next day, the diplomats from all around the world were arriving at the Hotel Royal. There were South Vietnamese representatives, Americans, even Soviets…

Raven had changed into the Vietnamese General she had knocked out a day before. Rose was in a corner of the room, dressed as a waitress. The man who saw her where impressed by the "French" woman, they thought she was, but they didn't get "charmed" since Rose was controlling herself.

Both infiltrated women saw Trask when he got into the room and they interchanged a look. They had a plan, and they had to follow it so it could work. But Trask, after he explained his Sentinel project, took an artefact to detect mutants, and it started beeping. Raven had been discovered.

"What are you?" Trask asked Raven with the General's disguise

"I assure you..." She stood up and Stryker, who was in the room took his gunshot out, and pointed at her.

Rose was surprised. Their plan was falling down and she didn't know what do to.

"No, don't shoot it." Trask commanded.

In a blink of an eye, Raven had knocked out three guards and the men were running away. That was the time. Rose turned to Trask and "enchanted" him, leaving him paralyzed, while Raven was still fighting.

The girls had accorded to kill Trask between the both of them, so both could get their revenge, but Rose wanted to kill him right there. She was about to when two strong arms surrounded her. It was Stryker. She hadn't seen him.

Then, Raven sliced through the floor, and made Stryker and Rose fall down. Raven took Stryker's gun and pointed at Trask.

"Raven!" Both girls heard a voice and turned to the door to see the owner.

Erik was just walking in when Stryker held Rose from behind scragging her, injected her with some kind of drug, and attacked Raven electrocuting her with an instrument that fled out of his hand.

"Raven, Raven!?" Charles saw her first and walk to her, while Erik sent the electro wires to Stryker's throat, who fell over Rose, smothering her. "Raven?"

"Charles?" Raven whispered.

"We've come for you, Erik and I. Together." He whispered as he sweetly patted her hair.

"I never thought I'd see you again." She said.

"I made you a promise a long time ago that I would protect you." He replied her and then she remembered.

"Charles, Rose!?"

"What?" He asked with confusion.

"Rose!" She exclaimed.

Logan had seen the young man that had fell over a girl. When he tried to take her out of him, and saw his face he got into a state of shock. A thousand painful memories surrounded him and back in his future, with his uncontrolled moves he wounded Kitty, before the older Magneto restrained him.

While Logan had his attack, and Hank was trying to wake Rose up, Erik had been staring at the blue mutant that could be the doom of his species.

"Erik?" Raven whispered and made Charles to turn around.

"Erik? What are you doing?"

"Securing our future." He said pointing at Raven with a gunshot he had taken from the great table; it was Stryker's. "Forgive me, Mystique. As long as you're out there, we'll never be safe."

"Erik..."

"Use your power, Charles. Stop him." Raven begged.

"He can't." Erik said.

Then the room was full of movement. Raven stood up and ran to the window, that she shattered to escape. Hank launched himself to Erik to stop him of shooting the gun, which he eventually did with his power. Charles ran to Rose lying unconscious on the floor. Logan slipped down the wall he was leaning on. Trask had been released from his paralysis when Rose was attacked by Stryker, but he stayed to watch the mutant's interactions, until this moment when he ran out of the room. Then, Erik levitated himself through the window and tried to attack Raven, but Hank arrived so Raven could escape.

In the hotel, Logan woke up.

"Where am I?" He asked Charles, the only non-unconscious person in the room.

"Huh?" He said turning his face from Rose to Logan, as he took the syringe out of the girl's body.

"How the hell did I get here?" Wolverine asked the young man trying to wake up an unknown girl.

"What? You came to us."

"Who are you?"

"Charles." Logan took him fiercely from a shoulder" Charles Xavier!"

"I don't know you."

Charles tried to reason with Logan for the next minutes until he came with an idea:

"You're on acid. Somebody gave you really bad acid, yeah?" He insecurely said raising a hand. "Just hold on tight, we'll get through this together."

Suddenly, the real Logan came back when Kitty got a grab on him in their future.

"Professor?" He asked

"What happened to you?"

"I just saw someone who's gonna bring me a lot of pain someday."

Stryker had escaped too.

"Where's Raven?" Logan asked.

"Gone."

"What?"

"We have to get out of here." Charles said as he carried the fainted girl in his arms, "Now".


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men part 2

* * *

In a little hospital, at Paris, Raven's wound in her leg caused by Erik, was being cured by a young nurse.

"Terrible thing" The nurse said as she was bandaging Raven's leg.

"What is?" Raven asked in a dull voice.

"Being born like that." The nurse answered as she watched in the telly images of the scandal during the Peace Accords, were strange creatures had appeared. One of them, the one that she was watching at that moment was a blue woman.

"Is it?" Raven asked her.

"Can you imagine... Looking in the mirror and seeing that staring back at you?"

Raven had been insecure of herself when she was younger. When she left Xavier's manor she learned to love herself the way she was. But hearing the nurse saying that brought back depressing memories from her younger self.

"Yes, I can."

"Where do you think she comes from? You think she has a family?" Asked the nurse with a lightly marked French accent.

"Yes. She does." Raven answered.

She couldn't stop thinking about Rose. She had left her behind, but she had to escape from Erik.

After being alone again, she realized that the real reason why she had looked for someone to help her find Trask, wasn't because she couldn't do it alone. She did it because she felt so lonely. She had only been with Rose for two days, but even though the other girl had been suffering every second of it, Raven had felt happy after many years.

Now, the only thing she could do was to pray, hoping that Charles had took Rose with her. Hoping that Rose wasn't in Trask Industries in that exact moment.

As soon as she got out of the hospital, she started her mission to find Erik. She needed answers and she found them in the subway of Paris.

"If I see so much as a screw move, I will jam this into your throat." She had been changed into an old poor man, when Erik passed by her, she grabbed him and took him into a telephone cabin. She had a hard plastic stick in his throat.

"How did you find me?"

"You taught me well." She answered.

"It's been a long time since we were this close." He said in a low voice. "I missed you."

"You tried to kill me…

"So the rest of us could live."

"What do you mean?"

Erik explained her as much as he knew about the matter, and how it didn't matter anymore if she was alive, since humans had taken her blood from the street the day of the Peace Accords.

"Whose fault was that?" She asked pushing him away.

"Mine. I've seen their plans. They're creating a weapon. And now they have what they need to take it further. We have to strike now, while we still hold the upper hand…"

"I've seen too many friends die, Erik." She murmured. "I don't want a war. I only want the man who murdered them."

"This is war. What happened to you? Did you lose your way while I was…?"

"I only wanted to know what happened with my friend…" Raven interrupted her, since she already knew the lecture he was about to give her.

"Antonelli?" He asked and Raven nodded. "She's with Charles…I think"

"Goodbye, Erik." That was all she needed.

* * *

They had just arrived at Xavier's Mansion. Charles had been carrying Rose in his arms, but as a pain groan came out of his mouth, the unconscious girl was taken from his arms by Logan.

"What happened?" He asked when he saw Hank helping Charles. "Can he walk?"

"He needs his treatment."

Hank disappeared leaving Charles and Logan alone…kind of. Logan was trying to calm down Charles, but the man was getting more paranoid with each second that passed. It was getting to Logan's nerves; besides it didn't help the strange feeling that the redheaded girl in his arms gave him.

"We need your help, Charles." Logan said with a low and serious voice. "Not like this. I need you. We can't find Raven…not without your powers."

But the man Logan was watching in front of him had the same face of an addict and Logan worried when he saw Hank with an extra dose. Charles already had his long sleeve rolled up.

"Charles." Logan murmured.

And he had it right there, the syringe not even a millimeter away of his skin. Logan was watching at him and so was Hank. Charles eyes went from one to another, and finally landed on the girl in Logan's arms. He raised the syringe… and put it down. Charles was a weak and a strong man at the same time. He deeply inhaled and cleared his throat.

"Hank, do me a favor." His voice sounded hoarsely polite. "Would you help me to my study, please?

Minutes later, the team were in front of an abandoned closet.

"Are you sure about this? Hank asked when he opened the closet's door and there, inside of it, was a wheelchair.

"Absolutely not." Charles said.

* * *

After Rose was tucked up in a bed, in Charles' bed to be exactly, the men decided to make a visit to Cerebro, but it ended in a catastrophe.

"I'll go check the generator." Hank said before disappearing though Cerebro's entrance.

"It's not the machinery, is it?" Logan asked.

"I can't do this. My mind..." Charles shook his head.

"Yes, you can…"

"It won't take it."

"You're just a little rusty."

"You don't understand. It's not a question of being rusty. I can flip the switches. I can turn the knobs." He put a fist on his head "But my power does not come from here." Then he shook it over his heart "It comes from...And it's broken." He turned in his wheelchair and moved away from the machine "I feel like one of my students. Helpless. It was a mistake coming down here. It was a mistake freeing Erik. This whole thing has been one bloody mistake. I'm sorry, Logan, but they sent back the wrong man."

"You're right. I am. Actually, it was supposed to be you. But I was the only one who could physically make the trip. And, uh... And I don't know how long I've got here. But I do know that a long time ago... actually, a long time from now... I was your most helpless student. And you unlocked my mind." Logan had walked towards Charles and was reclined in both arms of his wheelchair. "You showed me what I was. You showed me what I could be. I don't know how to do that for you." He had Charles too near and he realized that he was just too young. He wasn't but he looked too young, helpless, defenseless... The nearest thing of a son (or daughter) that Logan had had, had been Rogue, but he didn't have to raised her or teach her, at least not him, she just needed protection from him.

The man in front of him needed to be taught, he needed to be raised out of his vicious circle.

"You're right. I don't." Logan only had to remember who had really raised and taught everything Rogue knew. "But I know someone who might…"


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, nor their movies sad part 3.

* * *

She was floating inside of a tiredness-emptied atmosphere. It felt so relaxing, after everything she had happened…what had happened? She couldn't remember, and it didn't really matter for her. She was enjoying the place where she was. It was all dark, comfy and quiet. Was she there seconds? Hours? Days? She hadn't essence of time, but it didn't really matter for her.

Nothing mattered for her.

Then there was a sudden change in the atmosphere. She felt something soft and warm touching her hand and then a voice.

"She's been sleeping for many hours." Said the voice, a rough voice. "Doesn't that scare you?"

Then she only got whispers, specks of a reply.

"checked…syringe…drug…okay"

Then the warm feeling in her hand disappeared and she internally craved for it. Any sound that she had heard vanished, so she relaxed once again in her lake of peace. She swam in it, she immersed in it, she drowned in it, but it was all peace and she was happy.

After some time, the noise came back. This time she felt a touch in her forehead.

"You are here." A voice whispered. Rose immediately recognized it and she forced herself to open her eyes. Her body felt heavy and her throat was closed, that even when she tried to talk only a hoarse groan came out. "I'm glad you're here"

It was Raven, in his natural blue form.

"Raven" Rose thought "Who is Raven?"

Rose recognized her but couldn't tell or remember who was she. It didn't matter anyways, not for Rose.

The blue mutant passed her fingers through Rose's extremely large and ashy blonde hair. Lying there, with her hair spread around her, she really looked like a mermaid, a siren.

"I am sorry." Raven murmured her, approaching her face to the lost gazed Rose. "I heard what Stryker did to you…But you'll be fine" She straightened up "They'll take care of you"

"You are leaving?" Rose asked in her mind. "Do not leave me, please. I have to go with you! We have a mission…together?"

But then again, what mission? Was there a mission? Who were "they"? Who was "Stryker"? Who was the blue woman, or was it a man? It didn't really matter for Rose. Nothing mattered.

Rose closed her eyes once again. It was all a dream. She would wake up and she was going to be in the nunnery…

* * *

As soon as he woke up, which was pretty early since he couldn't sleep, he walked towards his room. He had decided to sleep in another room from the mansion, since his own was being used for Rose Antonelli.

He moved in his wheelchair until he was beside her bed. His head had been throbbing but as soon as he saw her uncomfortably moving in her sleep he forgot about it and focused on her.

She looked the same. The last time he had seen her before Paris, had been around 3 years before. Her hair was way longer. One of the things Hank had discovered about her mutation during the years she had lived with them, was that it made her head hair grow faster than it usually does. Hank had informed them that it could be related to the…attractiveness men found in woman's hair. It was a matter of nature. That was when Alex started calling her Siren. Just like the mythological creatures, she could play and adorn her gorgeous large hair, she could hypnotize men with her beauty, feel their emotions, and she could command them to do anything she wanted. She could even produce their deaths if she wanted, but she had never liked violence, just like Charles. She was too good, everyone knew it. That's why being compared with diabolical and wicked creatures made her feel angry. She didn't like the nickname when Alex started with it. It had been a great surprise when Charles and Hank found her letter when she ran away and saw the way she had signed it.

She hadn't become evil, no, she was just angry. Charles thought that using the nickname was a way of show her rebellion when she had escaped. And now she was lying in the bed, but Charles couldn't see a glimpse of Siren. All he could see was Rose, his Rose. How he had missed her.

"I…I…" Charles said and cleared his throat. "I don't know if you can hear me…But I…" He sighted.

Why was it difficult to talk to her when she was "gone" if he had done it many times? Yeah, part of Charles 'greatest secret.

"I don't know if you can hear me, but if you do" He had both of his hands surrounding one of hers. "I just wanted you to know…that I have failed you…many times in the past, but I won't do it… again." His voice had cracked and slowly he brought his lips near her hand.

But he didn't kiss it. Instead he gently put her hand on the bed and inclined himself to her relaxed face. Slowly he deposited a sweet chaste kiss on her temple. He straightened back on her wheelchair and stared at her.

Not even a minute passed and she opened her eyes, blinking many times. Delicately, as she did everything, she rubbed her eyes and sat on the bed.

She looked disoriented, Charles noticed. She was watching everything around her with a dreamy look. Then she looked at him and smiled.

"Hello, Charles"

He looked at her with curiosity. He had thought that she was going to wake up all paranoid about where she was and with who she was. He even thought that she was going to be mad at him when she would see him. But she was only there, smiling at him, blinking with her extremely large eyelashes, and with her cheeks slightly red. He couldn't make a sound; he had forgotten the impression that it always produced him to see her directly at her eyes. He was immune to her mutation, to all of it since it was all an illusion she uncontrollably created using men's brains and he had the most powerful one. She couldn't control him, she sometimes could feel what he felt, but it seemed like he wasn't immune to her looks.

After many years he had created a hypothesis: maybe he was immune to her looks too, and the reason why he was struck when he saw her was related to how he truly felt about her. It was just a hypothesis, but he had never been able to prove it. He was about to discover it, though.

Her gaze wandered through the room.

"It's good to be at home." It was barely a whisper, but loud enough so Charles could hear it. "Even if it is just a dream"

Rose felt that she had been too long in her peaceful dark "place", where she could rest, imagine and dream as much as she wanted, that now that she had woken up, she felt she was still in a dream.

"Rose" Charles said and it unlocked something on her face which turned abruptly towards Charles. "You are not in a dream"

She had the same dreamy face only for a moment and then she wide opened her eyes and took a deep breath with her mouth, as if she was choking. She flexed her legs in front of her. She still had the waitress outfit… It was all coming back to her head at once. She felt it was about to blow up. She put her hands on her knees and rested her head on them. She started to hyperventilate.

Raven! It hadn't been a dream. She was gone.

"Raven…" She said as she put her legs out of the bed. "I have to find her… we have to…"

She tried to stand up but her legs failed under her, and Charles took a hold before she could fell, even though he was in the wheelchair. They were so near.

"Rose…" He said with a sweet sweet voice.

"Charles."

She realized that he was really there, in front of her. She had always felt so distracted with his eyes…

"We don't know where Raven is" He shook his head breaking down her fantasy.

"But she came while I was asleep…"

"It was a dream, love"

Rose shook her head. It couldn't be. She remembered seeing her just as she was seeing Charles now, just a little bit dizzier.

"Charles…" She murmured with a worried and lost look. "I have to find her!" She exclaimed as she shivered. "We had to avenge them… We have to avenge him."

She was talking as if she had become crazy. She was trembling too much; Charles was afraid she could get into shock. And then she looked away and murmured:

"Alex…"

Charles frowned. What was she talking about now?

"Alex!" Her eyes returned to Charles as she exclaimed it. "Alex! Alex!"

Her eyes started to fill with tears and before Charles could ask anything else, she hugged him.

"Alex! Alex!" She cried and cried until her voice became rough "Alex! Alex…"

"What…what happened with Alex?" Charles asked her, and with his legs gone and his mind back, he felt all the hurt, hatred and anger Rose was feeling.

"He's dead! He's dead!" She cried as she trembled in his arms "Trask killed him. He killed him…I have to kill him".

Everything she had been keeping when she was with Raven, due to the circumstances, she let it go. Charles stayed with her, until she became tired of crying, until she cried everything out.

She had thought that after the day Raven had told her what had happened to Alex, when she had cried the whole day and then at the plane, she had drained out from tears. But as she was with Charles she observed that she hadn't, she had just been keeping it in. And there was something more…being in her old house again and in the arms of her first love, catalyzed her grief.

* * *

"Rogue." Logan said suddenly waking up.

Then Hank arrived with bad news. Raven had made them a visit and she had destroyed Cerebro. They didn't have a way to find Raven, but Hank informed them about a new protocol for mutants that was going to be announced in Washington. Hank led them to a room when he had installed a system to record news over "all three networks" …and PBS.

"All three? Wow." Logan said sarcastically.

"Yeah, and PBS." Hank repeated.

The three of them saw the news about the protocol.

"Raven doesn't realize... that if she kills Trask at an event like that..." Charles said and Logan saw that he looked better, so much better, than the day before "with the whole world watching..."

"Then I came a long way for nothing." Logan finished.

"And there's more bad news…" Hank said.

Traces of Raven's blood had been found in Paris, if they had deciphered her DNA then Trask Industries could start with the development of their Sentinels, already.

"There's a theory in quantum physics..." Hank said after a silence "that time is immutable. It's like a river. You can throw a pebble into it... and create a ripple, but the current always corrects itself. No matter what you do, the river just keeps flowing in the same direction."

He and Logan kept going with their conversation until Charles interfered, remembering what her old self had told him.

"Just because someone stumbles, loses their way... doesn't mean they're lost forever." Charles looked at the scientist. "No, I don't believe that theory, Hank. And I cannot believe that is who she is." He had an arm resting on his wheelchair. "Ready the plane. We're going to Washington…"

"I am coming, too"

They hadn't realized that there was a mutant, hearing everything they had just said, outside of the room. The three men turned around and saw her.

Charles had left her alone, so she could go to her old room, where her old things and clothes still waited for her, and take a shower. Hank was shocked to see Rose, walking and talking. It had been him the one who discovered the letter when she left, and he had been the one who had hold her when Stryker had let her go. He smiled as he saw her, and she gave him a little and almost unnoticeable smile.

"Jean?" Logan asked wide opened. "Jean!"

He walked towards the confused girl and hugged her.

"Charles, why is he touching me?" Then she turned to Logan "Why are you touching me?"

Charles had seen everything inside of Logan's head the day before, all his life. Of course he knew who Jean was.

"Let me go!" Rose exclaimed and Logan was sent flying towards a wall.

She had exclaimed Logan to let her go but in her mind she was wishing the weird and creepy man would let her go and be thrown towards a wall. But he hit it with too much force. She put her hands over her mouth and walked towards him to help him stand up.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want to…" She started but… the man was looking at her too creepily so she just left it in the air and walked towards Charles and Hank.

"Jean" Logan repeated still looking at Rosie and fell to his knees.

Charles moved his wheelchair towards him, with confusion and curiosity pasted in his face, and slowly placed his fingers on Logan's temple. Then… his hypothesis was proved, but he found something even more interesting.

* * *

(A/N: There you have it. Three new chapters. Hope you like them and thanks for your reviews!)


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men...

* * *

Ten years ago, the night Rose Antonelli, had decided to show herself in front of her team members living in Xavier's mansion, something odd happened.

" _Who are you?" Sean had asked twice sounding and looking hypnotized._

" _It is…it…it is m…me." She had answered. "It is me…_

" _Rosie" Charles said before anyone else._

There were seven people in the room: Rosie, two women more and four men.

Hank had arranged his glasses, Alex had started to smile, Sean was literally almost drooling, Erik was as still as a rock and Charles was barely breathing. All of them had an important thing in common: they were all slightly leaning towards her, as if they were trying to bow.

But the strangest thing was happening and none of the presents knew about it.

When Hank saw Rose, he found a girl with light ginger hair. Also, he didn't saw Rose's wavy hair, but a long curly hair going down her waist. The girl had smaller lips than Rose's real ones and her eyes were littler. Also she had dimples and a tiny little beauty mark on her chin, which Rose didn't really have.

Erik saw a girl with straight dark brown hair, and olive skin, instead of Rose's naturally tanned golden skin. The girl didn't have Rose's large eyelashes, but they were still abundant and her eyes were a bit littler than Rose's.

Sean saw a girl with wavy dark blue hair, which he thought was awesome and original. The girl had pale skin and almond eyes. Her cheeks weren't as Rose's, which had pretty filled cheekbones. The girl that Sean saw had a slimer face structure, very different to Rose's.

The thing for Charles was different. The girl he saw had stunningly long wavy ashy blonde hair, she had naturally tanned golden skin, with a beautiful face structure, with delicate yet noticeable features, like big eyes, with REALLY large dark eyelashes, a defined and little nose, and little and filled rosy lips. He literally was observing the "real" Rose, the Rose, Rose herself saw in her reflection. It didn't matter he wasn't watching a different girl, he was still stunned. Of course, the reason of him watching the real Rose was due to his own mutation.

And finally, Alex. He saw Rose. Literally he saw Rose, just as she was, just as Charles saw her.

The only thing, all this girls had in common, was their eyes. The shape varied, but its color was always the same: black. The iris was totally black, not dark brown, nor dark grey.

Maybe the only other man that had seen him like how she really was, had been her father.

Ten years later, as Charles had her hand on Logan's temple, he saw the girl Logan was watching.

The girl had fair skin, her hair was a dark red, and her features were sharpier and edgier, than Rose's real ones. Her eyebrows were thinner than those of the girl Charles had known for a very long time. And her lips were slimer.

Then, Charles was watching two people on Logan's mind. It was as if Charles had two pictures in front of him, one of them was Jean Grey from Logan's future and in the other one was the girl Logan was watching.

What was happening? How was it possible? Charles had though.

He took his fingers from Logan's temple.

"Hank?" He said without turning. "Come here"

Hank did as he was told.

"May I…?" Charles asked him with his hand held high and Hank inclined to him.

Meanwhile, Rose was watching the interactions between the men. What was happening between them? It was the only thing she could think of.

Once in Hank's head, Charles decided to go back in time in the scientist's mind. He searched in the first time Hank had seen Rose, the same night he had himself. He found the girl with the light ginger hair. Charles took his fingers away and slowly turned to Rose. She looked so lost.

"What's happening, Charles?" She asked with a trembling voice.

"I…I…" then he turned to Hank and asked him. "Which color is Rose's hair?"

Hank's face showed confusion; he took off his glasses, put them back on and turned to Rose.

"Red" He answered as if it was the most obvious think in the world.

"What?!" Rose asked as if she had just been offended.

"I mean…I mean…orange?" Hank answered and turned to Charles. "I think it's clear I am not good with woman's hair tones…"

"What do you mean by orange? What's he talking about, Charles? " She had tucked a strand of her own hair and was observing it.

"You mean" Charles turned to Hank. "you've always seen her hair like…ginger?"

"Emm…" He didn't wanted to offend Rose again "yeah."

Logan had started to raise.

"I am sorry…" He said in a monotonous voice. "I…I knew there was something weird with you, kid, but…you look just like a friend of mine. Well, how she looked…"

"Incredible!" Charles exclaimed in an stupefacted voice. " Rose! We've been living all this years without knowing it…Did you know it?"

"Know what?" She asked scared, and saw Charles turning in his wheelchair to her.

"Somehow, you are seen by people as…as…some kind of ideal woman!"

Rose tried to process this as quick as she could.

"What…?"

"What do you mean…?" Hank intervened.

"Or maybe not an ideal woman, but more like how we would think our perfect woman should be!" Charles exclaimed.

Rose shook her head.

"Please…"She said, since she had had enough for a lifetime "don't you ever mention it again. Just don't." And she walked out of the room.

"Are you sure, Charles?" Hank asked when the men were totally left alone in the room.

"I wish I could prove it but Erik's gone, and Sean…"He stopped himself suddenly forgetting his new discovery and turned to Hank with a worried look "Hank, about Alex…"


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer:I don't own the X-Men nor their movies but I wish I owned Hugh Jackman or Ryan Reynolds...

* * *

"You all right?" Logan asked once they were in their private jet that would take them to Washington.

Rose and Hank were in the pilot's cabin, while Logan and Charles were in the passengers' area.

"Getting there." Charles answered.

"Whatever happens today, I need you to promise me something." Logan had thought about this before he had saw the girl, Rose Antonelli, that reminded him of Jean. "You've looked into my mind and seen a lot of bad... but you've seen the good, too. The X-Men." He didn't knew how he should ask it, so he just went along with the easiest and most direct way. "Promise me you'll find us. Use your power, bring us together. Guide us. Lead us… Storm…Scott…Jean…" It was still hard for him to say their names out loud. "Remember those names. There are so many of us. We will need you, Professor."

"I'll do my best." Charles said with sincerity.

"Your best is enough." Logan said, and Charles sighted "Trust me." It seemed like the conversation was over but Logan had a last thing yourself. "And, Charles…" He said this time in a low voice "Do not deprive yourself of happiness."

He didn't have to specify; Charles knew what he was meaning. He slowly smiled and turned to Hank's cabin.

* * *

"You 'kay?" Hank asked Rose once they had taken off the plane.

She was reclined in the copilot's seat.

"Just thinking."

"'bout what?" He turned to her.

She inclined her head slightly to her right as she observed the clouds they passed.

"About what Charles said this morning…" She turned to him "How do I look for you?"

How did she look for him? Well, it wasn't a difficult question for Hank.

"Just like Charles said." He answered. "You could be my perfect woman."

It was the truth, but the reason Hank had admitted it was because he wanted to make her feel better. It accomplished the opposite thing. She frowned with displease.

"You don't seem too happy…"

"You could think…" Hank could barely hear it; he wished he had Beast's ears. "that just because I'm a girl I would be happy to hear things like that…but I don't think I'll ever like my mutation. I'd rather had a horn coming out of my forehead."

This last thing almost made Hank laugh.

"How do I look for you?" She asked again.

"Well… you look horrible, if that makes you feel better." He answered and made her let a little laugh out.

"Yeah it really does." She recomposed herself and cleaned her throat. "I should have asked Raven what she did to accept herself." Then her face changed as if she had remembered something. "How did you learn to accept yourself?"

Hank didn't know how to answer, since he still didn't accepted himself totally. If he had said that it wouldn't help Rose.

"I…I don't know, but…" He gulped "Raven found someone that accepted her just as she truly was…It gave her confidence."

"Then I am doomed." She whispered "The only man that's ever loved me in that way is…dead"

She hugged herself and closed herself as she cringed in her seat.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." Hank said before thinking it, but Rose was still talking.

"He's gone and I'll never know if he ever saw me different than how I see myself…Damn it, I don't even know if the woman I see in the mirror is really me or how I would like to look…"

"I think that the one you see is really you" He said catching Rose's attention and shrugged. "Your powers only work with men; you are a woman. If what scares you is that men will fall in love with you just because of your looks, then don't be. If I can see you when you have a grip of your "charm" without falling in love with you, then someone else...Look, it is a real head scratcher since we don't know the limits of your mutation but..."He stuttered losing track of his ideas " Maybe...maybe you just have to find a man that looks at you and sees the same woman that you see in the mirror."

It didn't make her feel better but she smiled anyways and then turned to look at the clouds.

"Thanks, Hank"

* * *

Thousands of people were gathered that day, outside of the White House. They'd come from all over the world...

"Can I see your invitations, please?" A guard asked Charles and company when they walked into the ceremony.

"Yes, you may." Charles answered putting his fingers on his temple, and Rose, who was steps behind with Logan smiled.

She hated her mutation, but it had always seemed entertaining for her to see Charles playing tricks with people's mind, even though it was basically the same think she could do. Well, in men's minds...

"These three are with me."

"Go ahead." The guard replied Charles.

"Thank you." He said as Hank pushed him through the crowd.

Rose's smile catched Logan's attention, and the redheaded girl (in the way he saw her) turned his gaze away from Charles, when she saw Logan quirking an eyebrow. Then he passed through the metal's detector but it didn't beeped.

"Logan! Rose!" Charles called them.

"Coming!" She answered waiting for Logan who was watching the metal detector. "C'mon" She told him.

Due to Charles' wheelchair, they got the best sight of the stage. It helped to have Rose at the front of the group since people, mostly men, made space so she could pass. She wasn't commanding them to do it, and she didn't have her "charm" activated, but still they couldn't help to make space for the beautiful woman walking through the crowd. "Useless and ridiculous" Rose repeated to herself on her mind referring to her ability when she saw the reaction.

"I haven't found her yet, but she has to be here." She heard Charles said once they had their places.

At that moment, President Nixon walked to the stage with his personal security team and started with the ceremony. After a little speech, he gave a signal and the Sentinels were revealed.

Logan's first glance of the monsters that would torment his future was full of anger, but of course he didn't show it. Hank saw them with fear; according to Logan, because of those robots he hadn't survived in Logan's future. Rose was distracted with the robots, too, but she didn't feel as threatened since she didn't know anything about Logan's future yet. She only knew that Charles, Hank and the bitter and sarcastically man called Logan, wanted to stop Raven from killing Trask. She had promised Charles when they got out of their plane, that she wouldn't intervene in their mission to stop Raven. But did she truly mean it?

"I have her." Charles announced them and signaled a man in the distance. "There. You see? Secret Serviceman. Left of the stage."

"Got him." Logan said and walked away with Hank.

Charles turned to Rose and saw her through his sunglasses. She looked fascinated when the Sentinels started flying up. He turned back to Raven in his mind, and tried to stop her.

"Raven, please, listen to me. We've been given a second chance to define who we are. Don't do this."

Then the Sentinels started shooting at the crowd. Charles and Rose beside him, turned to see what was happening, and saw the great baseball metal stadium of Washington levitating towards the White House.

"Erik!" Charles yelled while Rose closed her eyes to reach Erik's mind.

"I cant take him!" Rose yelled.

Erik had felt her trying to get in his head, but he had his helmet. He searched for them with his eyes, and when he found them he let a metal structure of the stadium fall on Rose and Charles. Logan yelled something, but none of them heard him.

Erik finally landed on the White House's grass.

"Do what you were made for." He commanded a Sentinel, when he spotted Logan and Hank.

The polymer robot started shooting at them, but they managed to escape.

"Where are you?" Erik said to himself trying to find the bunker of the White House.

"I got this!" Hank was over the attacking sentinel's head, and shouted at Logan "Go!"

Logan walked towards Erik, but the man kept throwing metal things at him. Then Erik controlled a metal structure with thick tubes. He impaled Logan many times with it and bended them inside of Wolverine's body. He levitated Logan in the air and said:

"So much for being a survivor."

Logan was sent far away flying through the skies. When Erik got rid of Wolverine, he returned to his work of taking the bunker out of the White house. He found it, and did it, ripped a metal wall apart and moved the tv cameras towards him.

"You built these weapons to destroy us." Magneto said. "Why? Because you are afraid of our gifts. Because we are different. Humanity has always feared that which is different. Well, I am here to tell you... to tell the world... you are right to fear us. We are the future. We are the ones who will inherit this earth. And anyone who stands in our way...will suffer the same fate as these men..." He signaled all the men inside of the bunker; between them, there was Trask, Stryker and President Nixon. "you see before you. Today was meant to be a display of your power. Instead I give you a glimpse... of the devastation my race can unleash upon yours. Let this be a warning to the world. And to my mutant brothers and sisters out there... I say this. No more hiding. No more suffering." He was inspiring the mutants in his era, but if he had only seen that the last mutant, Blink, of Logan's future fighting team had just been killed in a different time at that precise moment… " You have lived in the shadows... in shame and fear for too long. Come out. Join me. Fight together in a brotherhood of our kind. A new tomorrow... that starts today."

* * *

"All those years wasted... fighting each other, Charles." The same Magneto but from Logan's future, was saying to the older Charles. " To have a precious few of them back..." They shook their hands for the last time.

* * *

Back in the 70's, President Nixon walked out of the bunker.

"You want to make a statement? Kill me. Fine. But spare everyone else." He told Erik with a very brave voice.

He wanted to show the world that he could protect them.

"Very heroic, Mr. President..." Erik raised all the guns from the bunker and pointed at the president "but you had no intention... of sparing any of us. The future of our species begins now."

One of Magneto's sentinels approached to the mutant, trying to destroy him since he was also a mutant, and it was exactly in this moment that he got distracted that President Nixon took a plastic gun out and shoot it at Erik. The bullet cut across one of Erik's side of his neck. He fell in the grass, and so did the guns and sentinels he had been controlling. Then Raven returned to her original appearance and walked towards the falling man.

"You used to be a better shot." Erik said.

"Trust me, I still am." She kicked him and knock him out.

She turned to the bunker pointing the scared men with the plastic gun, which she used to shoot at Erik. She had a clear view of Trask, all she had to do was to pull the trigger, but the men in the bunker stood frozen and Charles appeared.

What had he been doing all this time? Well…


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men.

* * *

The metal structure had fallen on Rose and Charles, but they weren't crushed by it. They got trapped side by side.

"God!" She exclaimed trying to move the thing off of him, but it was just to heavy. "Why is it that I always get myself out of the battle too quickly?"

Charles tried to push it off, too. And then they tried to do it at the same time. Finally they gave up.

"What should we do now?" Rose asked turning her head to Charles.

Charles looked at her.

"I'm trying to find Raven." He said putting a hand over his temple.

"This is all my fault" Rose said closing her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I told Raven that if we were going to kill Trask it had to been in an important event, that it had to be a big deal..." She was feeling so guilty.

Hank and Logan were fighting for their lives, Erik was destroying the White House, and Charles and her were trapped under a heavy metal structure.

"I told her it had to be live so people everywhere could see it. It is all my fault." She had started crying. "It is always my fault. It is my fault all that is happening, it is my fault because I ran away three years ago." She turned to the telepath "I am sorry. I am sorry!" She exclaimed and closed her eyes "You were right, that day, when we fought. I…I didn't wanted to be near you. Not if Alex wasn't near. I couldn't stop myself of thinking…"

"Rose..." He said totally forgetting about Raven and Erik and Logan and even Hank.

"I'm a stupid, immature, selfish, rotten brat stuck up in that day, 10 years ago, when you rejected me. God! You didn't even reject me! I am a distraction and a danger to all of you. I am a useless damsel in distress, all the time…"

She got interrupted by some screams, pain screams.

"You hear that?" She tried to push the metal over her again. "What is he doing to him? What is he doing to Logan?"

"Rose, calm down" Charles had heard it too. "Close your eyes and try to reach Erik's mind"

"I've tried" She exclaimed and cried at the same time. "Why can't I just calm myself? I'm not helping with my cries!"

But her reprimand to herself only made her cried more.

"I am sorry, Rose" Charles got into her mind, and as if he had turned off a knob, the crying stop.

"Thank you, Charles" She said and sighted. "I needed that"

"Your welcome…oh, can you go back to the part when you told me about our fight?" He said with certainty that it wasn't the best moment to ask, but he needed to hear what she had to say and he needed to have her head in somewhere else so she wouldn't break down again.

"Oh, I…I…" She sighted and turned to him. "I hope not, but I'll probably die today so, whatever… After Cuba when you woke up, I…I…Well, before that, when you were still sleeping I told myself that I couldn't permit to let go another friend without telling him how important he was for me. But the more and more I thought about you while I took care of you, I realized that what I felt was deeper than that." She said as quickly as she could as if a bomb could fall on them at any minute. "But then you asked for Moira and I saw you kissing her and… I sound like a teenager…"

"Continue" Charles said while he was trying to find Raven.

"So, yeah. That's it. I left because you were right all along. I couldn't be near you if Alex wasn't there. Even when I was with him and you passed by, I… you know what? Forget it! This is so ridiculous! We are trapped here and I am confessing my feelings? What's wrong with me?"

"The question is what's wrong with me, Rose" He had his fingers on his temple, still looking for Raven. "Somehow your voice helps me to concentrate and I'm strangely feeling motivated for your confession…"

"Then I'm a not talking about it anymore. Here I am, showing my true feeling after 10 years and you think is funny?"

"Never said it was funny, love, but I promise you that if we get out of this alive I'm so kissing you."

Rose was about to reply back but she was left without words. What was he trying to say?

"I have my secrets, too, Rose. I've wasted many years that I could have spent with you. Not anymore…"

Rose was shocked, she was looking at Charles, but he had his sight somewhere else in the sky.

"I know it is not the most romantic way, but…" He turned to her. "I love you."

She looked at his blue eyes and he looked at her black ones. Blue met black and it was like in all the novels she had read. The world had stopped. She had waited many years to hear him say that, and now he was saying it. Not even in her craziest dreams, she had dream that it would be like that.

"I…" She whispered. "I love you too."

Slowly, Charles tried to get near her, but it wasn't possible. Then he heard Erik's voice.

"If we ever get free of this one, we really need to talk." He said.

"Totally agree" She nodded with a frown.

They watched at each other and then slowly, they smiled. Because of x or y reason they had lost already 10 years. They wouldn't anymore. Of course, there was that part of her reminding her of Alex, but she want forgetting about him. Oh, no. She would never forget him. He was always going to be her first boyfriend, after all. But she was feeling her heart pumping so violently, because of the danger and the confessions that her adrenaline levels had her head everywhere and nowhere.

She paid attention to Erik's voice and moved as near as she could to Charles.

"Can I tell you a secret?" She asked and Charles nodded at her, with that gleam in his eyes that only men in love have, as if he could hear her talk about nonsense all day, but he had to remind himself many times that he wasn't in the best position to have those thoughts. "I've always hated these speeches he makes." She looked at the sky as if she could see Erik from where they were. "So pretentious…"

Charles laughed and rolled his eyes. Probably if he had been alone at that moment he would be dying of desperation, but he had her there and it was all better. Even if they died, it would still be better.

"Raven!" Rose remembered "Look for her!"

Charles closed his eyes and put his fingers on his temple.

"I'm looking."

"And I'm looking for Logan. I can't feel him…you think he…?"

But she never finished because they both heard the voice of their President.

"I've found her/" Charles said with a suddenly serious voice. "It's her. She's changed into the President." He had his eyes closed and Rose decided to keep it quiet. "I have to let her act…only then…"

"I can feel Hank!" Rose whispered more to herself, since Charles was busy.

Even in the distance, Rose heard the guns about to be shot, then she heard a Sentinel moving, as if he was being destroyed and lastly a bullet through the air. Rose held her breath and turned to Charles, he was nodding. They kept silence for a minute and that's when Charles froze the men in the bunker and projected himself in front of Raven.

"Get out of my head, Charles!" Raven yelled holding her plastic gun towards Trask.

"Raven." He said with a serious and pleading voice. "Please, do not make us the enemy today."

"Look around you. We already are." She exclaimed.

"Not all of us." Rose heard him talking and saw when Hank arrived with them, to help them get out of the metal structure. "All you've done so far... is save the lives of these men. You can show them a better path.

"Shut her down, Charles." Hank told him, but he shook his head.

"I've been trying to control you ever since the day we met...and look where that's got us." Charles continued

"Everything that happens now... is in your hands. I have faith in you, Raven."

Charles unfreezed the man and disappeared from Raven's head. She had a clear view of Trask again. She kept pointing at the man, and he was watching her with a serious expression. She stood there, pointing at him for minutes.

Rose didn't hear a shot, but she heard Raven's voice:

"He's all yours, Charles."

And then both, Rose and Charles, were free. Charles had controlled Erik to make him move the metal over them. Hank helped Charles to stand up, and Rose quickly stood up. Erik saw his helmet lying on the floor, but he couldn't take it, now due to Rose's ability. He turned to the mutant trio.

"If you let them have me, I'm as good as dead." Erik said out loud. "You know that."

"We know." Charles replied and turned to Rose, who immediately let go Erik.

"Goodbye, old friend." Magneto said.

"Goodbye, Erik."

Erik raised his hands and left as he had arrived, levitating. Only then, Rose ran to Charles and hugged him by a side, also helping Hank in supporting him. The trio turned to Raven, she was watching them. She looked at Hank, and then at Rose. Raven saw the way Rose was grabbed from Charles, and how he was laying his head over hers. She smiled and turned around limping away. She could've told Rose the true about Alex, but…

"One day, they'll thank me…" Raven thought with a fresh image of her best friends, even if Rose would hate her someday.

"Are you sure you should let them go?" Hank asked Charles.

"Yes. I have hope for them." He said as he saw Rose's lost gaze in Trask "There's going to be a time, Hank, when we are all together."

Rose turned to him and rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes to restrain any thought of revenge.

"What about Logan?" Hank thought.


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men, but, oh my god, next chapter we begin with Apocalypse!

* * *

In the future, Logan woke up and found a very different world. It had worked. It had all worked. All the X-men were there. After all, Charles had kept his promise.

"Jean." He said as he saw the woman…How was it? His ideal woman.

"Hey, Logan."

"Jean." If hadn't been a tough guy, he would've probably cried after he saw his love and the woman that in another future, had died in his own arms.

"Are you okay?"

"You're here." He said as he got near her.

If she had only knew that he had been through a living hell, in which there was a pretty little demon that had looked just like her and he had just woken up from it…It was better not to tell her

"Where else would I be?" She asked.

Logan raised a hand and was about to touch her cheek, to prove if it was real, or it was another dream of his.

"Whoa." Scott appeared and stopped him. "Easy, pal."

"Well, some things never change." Logan said and patted his male partner "It's good to see you, Scott."

"Uh-huh." Scott replied with suspicious "See you later, Jean."

"Professor." Logan said when he saw him.

"Logan, is everything all right?" Jean asked him.

"Yeah." He answered and she walked away, "Yeah, I think it is." He turned to Charles "You did it."

"Did what?" Charles let his book fell and moved his levitating chair towards him "Logan, don't you have a class to teach?"

"A class to teach?" Logan asked.

"History."

"History?" Logan thought how ironic it was "Actually, I could use some help with that."

"Help with what?"

"Pretty much everything after 1973." Logan answered. "I think the history I know is a little different."

The Professor was speechless.

"Welcome back." Finally, he murmured.

"It's good to see you, Charles." Logan said and looked around "It's good to see everyone."

"Well... I had a promise to keep." Charles replied.

"A promise? What about the second one?" Logan folded his arms and Charles smiled.

"You and I have a lot of catching up to do."

"Yeah."

"What's the last thing you remember?" Charles asked.

 _The past.  
A new...  
and uncertain world.  
A world of  
endless possibilities.  
And infinite outcomes.  
Countless  
choices define our fate.  
Each choice, each moment...  
a ripple in the river of time.  
Enough ripples...  
and you change the tide.  
For the future  
is never truly set._


	27. Chapter 27 APOCALYPSE

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men nor their movies.

* * *

"So, everything is okay?" Rose Antonelli asked.

"I've told you many time before." Hank said as he took his glasses off and cleaned them. "It is always the same. There is nothing wrong with you" He put them on again.

Ten years after what had happened in Washington, Rose was sitting in one of the infirmary's beds in Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, looking worried.

When Hank, Charles and Rose had returned to the mansion all those years before, they had a new mission. All of them, Charles mostly, wanted to open the school again. They would have to clean the whole mansion, remodelate it and since the house wasn't little at all, it was going to take some time. Besides, Charles had to learn to control his quantity of alcohol drinks.

That was the first thing Charles did. When he started to make a change of his habits, to stop with his addiction, he realized that he had never been addict at all. He could stop drinking anytime he wanted. All those years before, he had just been addicted to his sorrow and grief.

He started to take care of himself, his image and his mental and emotional health. He was the one who decided that he was ready to use Cerebro again. He found it easy to use it. Just as he had said to their missing friend Logan, his power came from his heart and back then it was whole again.

He looked for Logan. Logan was the first person he looked for in Cerebro. Rose and Hank were there with him. But he found an interesting thing, as he always did. The man he found didn't have any memory of everything that had happened in the last weeks. He didn't have a memory of Charles, Hank and Rose, and from what he saw, he was having a great time in Brazil.

"Should I make contact?" Charles asked his companions who were informed of this.

"If he's happy where he is" Rose said putting a hand on his shoulder "I don't think you should."

They decided to leave everything the way it was and hoped that their friend would someday come back.

There was also the matter of Rose and Charles. They were in love with each other, and they had been since many years back. Charles knew Rose still cried at nights for Alex, he didn't want to push her. So he started a mission with himself, to help her in her moments of solitude and to win her heart her everyday, so she wouldn't be sad.

Rose started to wake up and found a red rose outside of her door everyday. She started to put them in a jar so for the end of the first month she had 31 roses, some of them already dead, some others young and fresh.

One morning the trio were having breakfast, talking about different topics, when Rose brought it up.

"I want to cut my hair" She had it really large, but it was just to beautiful than for Hank and Charles, it was almost a sin to cut it off.

Charles touched her hand for over the table.

"Are you sure, my love?"

She loved the way he referred at her without shame using those sweet pet names. She smiled and nodded.

"I've realized that…especially after what had happened in Washington", she said. "it is a real pain to have it so large."

Hank and Charles looked at each other, they had been monitoring her, since well she had passed through a traumatic experience: the death of a lover. They were afraid about what it psychologically could mean for Rose, but after they saw her with her shoulder length hair they felt her more relaxed and animated. As if her hair had been the real burden the whole time.

After that, she became closer to Charles. She started to accept his walks out of the house, not that she hadn't before because Charles had never made the invitation until then. His company made her happy. Finally she had what she had wished for many years: Charles' love. Basically she had always had it, but she didn't knew it.

Hank felt so happy to see both of his friends so happy after too much sorrow. Rose talked to him many times in private, she wanted to let Charles make the first step, but she was afraid. What if Charles could only see the illusion of his ideal woman around her?

"I've known Charles for so long." Hank told her one night, while Charles was in a meeting with a government man since they were discussing about the reopening of the school. " I can't assure you that he can really…see you, but… I can see something. I can see that he's in love with you, and…yeah, maybe your looks help a little, maybe they don't, but I know him, Rose. Don't let your fear of your mutation keep you from being happy."

Days later, Charles and Rose started to date officially.

"I can feel your uncertainty about my feelings for you, Rose…" He had told her the day it began, during their daily walk in their garden.

They were under the same three where they had fallen sleep together many years before. Charles had asked Hank to put a bench under it, so they could sit on it.

"But please, believe when I tell you that they are purely true. You're the gentlest, sweetest, funniest and literally most controlative, woman I've ever met…" He said winning a little punch from Rose because of the controlative part, but she laughed.

"And that's why I have been loving you for so many years..." He knew how she had always felt about her looks, how insecure she was, so he decided not to bring it up.

He could hear her thinking loudly, she wanted to ask him to show her through his power how she looked to him. But she didn't ask, and Charles was afraid to jeopardize his confession.

"I know I can't give you what a whole man could give you…"

"Don't say that, Charles!"

She hated to hear him sometimes underestimating himself.

"It's the truth. But…"He took one of her hands. "if you give me the chance I can promise to give everything in me to make you happy…"

She already knew where he was going and she placed a hand in his cheek.

"I'll be your girlfriend…" She said. "with one condition."

"Anything for you, my love."

She inclined towards him and closed her eyes.

"Call me Rosie, again"

And their love pact was signed with their sweet first kiss.

They were together for many months, which were their happiest after many years. The mansion started to look more like a school and they were happy and anxious to open it. But Charles posponed its inauguration, claiming that he knew what he was doing.

Then, the day of Rose's 30th birthday he proposed her marriage. They had been only months together, but they were so in love that they didn't think that it was too soon. Not even Hank thought that; he felt as if he had seen his friends dating for ages.

It was during dinner. Hank was there when it happened. Rose had just opened Hank's present, a beautiful heart shaped locket that made her laugh when she opened it.

"I know Charles is the man in your heart, but…" He shyly said while Rose and Charles laughed. "I thought that maybe he could give me some space in it, since we are a family."

In a part of the locket, there was a small picture of Charles, but in the other part there was a small Hank looking at her.

"Of course, you are in my heart too, Hank!" She said giving him a quick hug which made McCoy smile.

"My turn" Charles said and took out of his coat a black little box.

When she saw it, she could already tell what was it…

"Charles…" She whispered.

Hank didn't emit a sound, it was their moment and he was glad he could appreciate it, but they needed their space.

"I want to spend every second of my life with you." Charles assured her, slowly opening the box and showing a beautifully crafted diamond ring.

Her eyes were glistening of joyful and fearful tears. She slightly inclined her head to a side.

"Are you sure?" She asked in a low voice.

"As never before." He said and bravely put a hand on her temple, showing her what she had wanted to see months before, when he had first declared to her.

He show her how she looked for him.

Hank saw Rose frowning and the tears falling through her cheeks. Somehow, Hank didn't knew, he could tell what was happening and he was surprised when Rose talked:

"That's me" She murmured. "That's me! That's the real me!" She had had her gaze lost, but she turned to Charles and smiled."How…?"

Hank heard Charles letting go the breath he had been holding.

"At first, I believe, it was due to my mutation." Charles sent a sideglance to Hank. "But now, I believe that it is because you are my ideal woman." Charles took the ring off the box. "I want to reopen this school with you by my side. I want to wake up every day and I want you to be the first person I see in the mornings. And I want to go to bed and I want the last person I see at nights to be you. I want to see you walking through the church's isle, or anywhere you want, in a white dress. I want you to marry me, Rosie"

Hank was really impressed. Charles had always been the man of words, and Rose was used to him talking in that way to her, but for Hank it was totally new.

"I wish I could kneel, but…" Charles laughed and kissed Rose's left hand. "Would you marry me, Rose Antonelli?"

Hank had never seen the both of them kissing, until that moment, when Rose threw herself to Charles and kissed him multiple times saying "Yes" even more times.

After their little moment, Rose turned to Hank.

"I'm getting married!" She exclaimed.

Years had to pass so Rose could find a problem in her marriage. It had all been hearts and rainbows until she and Charles tried to get pregnant. But it just didn't happened. Hank made them multiple studies, but they recorded that both were perfectly good. Both of them could procreate. Why didn't it happen?

When they found this problem, the school was already opened and there were many little mutants around them.

"At least we have them" Rose said once, in a monotonous voice.

She felt like she was the cause of their problem, but then, she always took the blame of everything. She still felt guilty of Charles's legs accident, because she didn't do anything to stop Erik in Cuba, and she still felt guilty of Alex' death, because she didn't do anything to stop him from going at Vietnam.

"Here you'll have as many children as you want" Charles said kissing her hand.

But she didn't believe it. Those kids would grow up someday, they would graduate and leave them.

Charles gave up in their tries to have children but she never did. She would always go to Hank's laboratory every Sunday, when they were free. He would make her blood and many other tests. But it was all right in her. She felt so heartbroken. She wanted to give Charles a son.

Two years had happened since the wedding. The school was up and running. Then a new group of kids arrived. One of them was the young Jean Grey.

"Is she…?" She murmured Charles and he nodded, knowing what she was about to say.

It was Jean, Logan's Jean.

* * *

(A/N: Apocalypse is about to start! Thanks to everyone for your support and reviews, I hope you enjoy the third and final part of Rose's story)


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men...actually, I don't own a thing in life.

* * *

Charles, Hank and Rose were sitting in a room, where all the news students were being welcomed. Hank was talking, he had just passed a list, when they heard the girl's name. Rose didn't need Charles to tell her who she was.

Jean was a little and thin redheaded girl with light blue eyes. She was the only redhead in the room. Rose hadn't known Logan pretty much, but she felt the urge of taking care of this girl, Charles' rescuer's love.

Jean, like most of the kids, wasn't paying attention to Hank. They were mostly looking at the beautiful woman in the room. She was the most beautiful woman Jean had ever seen.

"Even prettier than mom" Jean admitted to herself and Charles laughed when he heard her innocent voice in his mind. Rose turned to him with curiosity, but he only shook his head.

The kids were going to their rooms. Charles and Hank were going to take the boys, and Rose the girls. She told the girls what she had said to the first group of girls that had arrived at the school a year before:

"If you ever need a friend, if you ever need help, never doubt of coming with me."

The girls were little, but they weren't close to adolescence yet, but they would all eventually need her. The girls of those groups were around 8 years old. Later they would accept even smaller kids.

"If you ever feel bothered by something, if you have any problems…think of me as your temporal mother." She would say.

All the girl students in the school were enchanted with her, especially with her hair. It had grew up again but she didn't cut it this time.

Rose and Jean arrived at the girl's bedroom. Jean's luggage was there. Slowly, the girl walked in with Rose behind her. Rose closed the door and walked to Jean.

"Do you want me to help you unpack you things?"

Jean turned to her and nodded.

"Is she unchatty or…?" Rose thought.

"You like it here?" She asked and the girl shrugged.

"It's pretty…but I didn't want to leave my house" Young Jean talked for the first time.

Her voice was acute, but she sounded mature. Actually, she looked too mature for her age, as if she had had to grow up too fast. It impressed Rose since she was in her thirties and sometimes she still felt too childish. It didn't help that Charles gave her everything she wanted.

Rose smiled.

"I can tell how you feel." She took one of Jean's luggage and put it on her bed. " The first time I came here, I felt like an outcast"

"Really?" Jean asked her with curiosity. "Why?"

Rose smiled even more when she remembered her younger self.

"I was too unconfident with myself" She said as Jean opened her luggage and poured it on her bed.

Rose took a scarf from Jean's clothes and put it around her face, leaving everything covered, except her eyes.

"I used to walk around the house like this, because I was scared of people watching me…"

Jean laughed watching at the pretty lady.

"Why would you? You're too pretty…Is that your…your…?"

"Mutation?" Rose asked and Jean nodded.

"What Mr. McCoy said."

Rose smiled, it was always pleasant to hear the kids calling her and her friends with "Mr.", "Mrs.", and "Professor". She hadn't had problems with her ability in years, so she didn't had problems in being near the children and teaching them English, Italian and Spanish.

"A part of it." Rose answered as she let the scarf fell on Jean's bed.

Rose gave Jean a recommendation about how she should arrange her things, and they started working on it.

"So…Mrs. Xavier…"

"You can call me Rose when we are alone…" She said as she folded some clothes.

"Rosie," Jean said catching the pretty lady's attention, since only Charles called her like that, but Rose had liked hearing the girl calling her like that too. "you are married with Professor Xavier, aren't you?"

Rose laughed and proudly nodded. She had been happily married for two years.

"You like Professor X?" Rose asked using the nickname older students had given his husband.

Jean shrugged.

"He's nice." She smiled. "Did you met him at school?"

Rose inclined towards the girl as if she was going to tell her a secret:

"He was my Professor" She murmured

The girl opened her mouth and then laughed out loud for the first time in the school.

"That's so romantic" Jean exclaimed and stopped when she got an idea. "Then, can I marry Mr. McCoy?"

Rose laughed.

"Omg! This kid!" She thought.

"He's too old for you, darling" She said sweetly patting Jean's head. "But who knows, maybe you'll meet here the boy who'll eventually become your husband."

Jean had been smiling but it faded after Rose said this.

"I'm not so sure" She said as she stood up and put some clothes on her closet. "People runaway from me, especially boys. They say I'm weird. That's why my parents sent me here. They don't love me."

Rose frowned as she heard her.

"Don't say that!" She sweetly said. "If they don't love you, you wouldn't be here. They want the best for you."

Rose stood up and put some more clothes on the closet.

Rose didn't know back then, but Jean's parents weren't pleased with her ability, one of the main reasons to send her away.

When they finished with Jean's clothes they sat on her bed. Rose knew she should probably go, to let the girl sleep, or maybe she should go with another girl, to make her feel comfortable just as she was making Jean feel, but she didn't want to go.

"So, what's your mutation?" Rose asked her.

Jean flinched in her seat and lowered her head.

"It's not…interesting or something" She mumbled and Rose sweetly took her from her chin and raised it.

"Tomorrow, Professor X is going to ask you in front of the classroom. You have to be confident of you mutation. Even if it isn't "interesting or something" you have to make it sound cool!"

Jean slowly smiled.

"Are you confident of your mutation?" She asked Rose. "You like it?"

Rose hadn't thought of that in many years. She felt disoriented for a moment. Then, she cleared her throat.

"I am 100% confident of it. If I weren't I would still be using that cloth around my face" She laughed trying to cheer the girl's mood up. "It was really hard for me to learn to control it, but now I have a total grip of it."

She excluded the part of liking it. She would never like it, but it didn't matter anymore. Jean smiled and raised a hand. Rose saw her with attention, her hand started to tremble and she was frowning. Rose didn't knew what she was doing, until she saw a book slowly flying towards them.

"Wow!" Rose said with sincere excitement. "Telekinesis!"

Jean inclined to her.

"Sometimes…" She whispered. "I can talk with people in their heads, I can make them do what I want, and I can play tricks with their minds."

Rose was impressed with the girl. No doubt why Logan had been impressed with her too. Jean's ability reminded her of Charles and herself. Rose smiled feeling hopeful, of what she didn't know.

"That's an amazing mutation!" Rose nodded making the little girl feeling better.

"Thank you" Little Jean shyly replied.

They stared at each other for a moment until Jean talked:

"What's your mutation?"

Rose stared at her with a smile:

"Would you hate me if we let this conversation for later?"

"Of course not!" The girl exclaimed and laughed. "But why not now?"

"Because…" Rose stood up and took the bed's mattress off "young lady, you have to wake up early in the morning"

Jean got in her bed laughing. Rose could feel the change in Jean's attitude, she was more relaxed.

"But will you tell me tomorrow?"

"Mmm…I'll tell you when you get older" Rose said as he tucked the girl in bed.

It was weird how she could tell the girl that Charles was her husband, and that he had been her Professor too, but it was uncomfortable to even think about telling her about here mutation was based in controlling men's minds. It sounded strange even for her.

Rose combed Jean's wavy red head with her fingers.

"Good night, Jean"

"Good night, Rosie"

The woman walked out of the bedroom, the corridor was empty and she didn't saw anyone else in her way to her room. She had lost sense of time being with Jean, because when she got in her room she found a Charles sleeping. She changed into her pijama and got bed. When Charles felt the movement in their bed he turned with his eyes closed, put an arm around her waist and his head on her shoulder.

"Were you with Jean?" He asked her.

It was a natural thing in their marriage. They knew each other too well that basically they knew where and with who they were every minute of the day.

"Yeah" She answered. "She's a good girl."

She said but she suspected that Charles hadn't heard the last part.

It took her sometime to fall sleep. She was thinking of Jean, how nice the girl was, how similar their powers were, how she had Charles fair skin but Rose's wavy hair… Rose needed a son,… or a daughter. She believed that Jean could take that place. That was when she stopped going with Hank to the lab each Sunday.

Jean was Mrs. Xavier's favorite student. Everyone knew it.

Jean had perfectly matched with the students, which made Rose feel very proud of her. Charles used to see her wife and felt happy of the happiness she felt when she was around Jean, but a small part of him was scared. What would happen with his wife once Jean grew up and graduated? It was exactly the same thought Rose used to think about the children in the school, why she couldn't get too attached to them. But it was before Jean.

However, everything started to change with Jean when she had a really bad night, after she turned 12 years old. That night the whole school shook. Rose, Charles and Hank were working late that night. When they felt the tremble they searched the cause. It led them to Jean's room. As soon as Rose realized it, she tried to run inside of Jean's bedroom, but Charles stopped her.

"Let me do this" He said.

He was feeling something powerful coming from Jean's room.

"Just make sure she's okay."

Hank and Rose waited outside of the room for many minutes. Finally, walked out.

"She wants to see you, Rosie" He said and gave her wife a kiss in her head. "Hank, come with me to the lab"

They walked away from Rose, and she entered Jean's bedroom.

"Rosie!" She smiled when she saw her. Rose quickly approached to her bedroom and hugged her. Jean's face was red as if she had been crying.

"What happened?" Rose asked her with her heart heavily beating in her chest, she had been too worried for her girl…, her student.

"Just a nightmare."

"You wanna talk about it?"

Jean shook her head.

"Just stay, please!"

"I will."

And she did until the redheaded girl fell sleep.

The next day, everyone in the school knew who had caused the tremor. The kids walked away from Jean; they were scared of her, of course. It wasn't important for her; it always ended happening, but this time it had took more time. At least, she had a very good friend, Mrs. Xavier, or how she called her in private, Rosie. But that closeness wouldn't last for a long time.

That same day Charles sent someone for Rose.

She didn't need to knock, but she always did it.

"Come in"

When Rose came into his study, Charles face brightened. He was always delighted to see his wife.

"You don't ever have to call, darling…"

"I know" She said fixing her hair and rolling her eyes "Why did you call me?"

He moved his chair towards her and pulled her into his lap.

"Can't I call my wife just to see her and hear her voice?"

Rose laughed and gave him a little kiss.

"What is it?" She asked.

Charles sighted.

"You know I would never ask you to something if it is not good for you…"

"Yeah" She nodded placing her hands on his shoulders "Of course I know."

"What do you usually do?" Charles asked her suddenly disorienting her.

She thought he had changed the topic, but he hadn't.

"Well…I am in classes, mostly, and when I am not I am with Jean…"

"You spend too much time with her, don't you?"

"As much as I can." She said with a great smile.

"It's about Jean. The reason I called you, I mean." Rose's smile started to fade.

"What about her?"

Charles gulped, he didn't wanted to say it but he had to.

"Last night, Hank and I discovered something about her…I'll have to train with her more than with any other kid…"

Rose frowned since she didn't get the point.

"I would like you to not spend a lot of time with her…for a while."

Rose stood up from Charles' lap watching at him. He was her husband, he had always been right. She had never questioned him and she wasn't going to start now. But Jean…

Charles moved towards her and took a hand.

"Is she okay?" She asked.

"Fine." Charles nodded but it looked like he was hiding something from her. "She just needs to control herself and… you know you are the most important thing for me, don't you?"

Slowly she nodded. It was clear, he didn't wanted her to be near if Jean had an attack.

"Don't worry" Rose said "Besides it is going to be just for some time, isn't it?"

After Rose stopped visiting Jean at nights the tremors became more frequently. She knew that the girl asked for her when Charles went to calm her down, but Rose never responded to her calling.

When she had free time, since she couldn't go to Jean, she had to find absurd things to entertain herself, like infiltrating in one of Hank's classes or betting with the boys about the basketball games they did in the school.

Soon, a new generation of mutants arrived. One of them, Rose saw, looked older than the rest of them. Also she didn't looked American. Later, Charles informed her that the girl was named Jubilation Lee, and she was daughter of Chinese immigrants, that had traveled to America when they heard about Charles' school, but they had been murdered. A guard had found the girl wandering in the town's mall. The girl had told him that she was going to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and he took her to their school.

The girl was too cute. She had almond eyes, her hair was black and her voice was too sweet. All of this, Rose noticed it the first time she talked to her.

The little Jubilation was sitting in a swing. Rose sat in the swing beside her.

"Hey" Rose said and the girl smiled. "I'm…"

"Rose Xavier, better known as Mrs. Xavier." The little girl quickly said. "You are Charles Xavier's wife."

"How you know that?" Rose asked entertained with her. "Are you a telepath?"

The girl shook her head and laughed.

"Professor X told me." The girl started to swing herself. "You are too pretty"

"Well, thank you!" Rose was enchanted by the chatty style of the little girl. "How old are you?"

Rose saw the girl making a bubble gum and exploding it.

"10 years old. And you? How long had you been married? When did you met Charles Xavier?"

"Emm, well…

And then Jubilation Lee, who (Rose discovered that same day) preferred to be called Jubilee, started to make a marathon of questions. It helped Rose to forget a little about her hurt from being away of Jean.

Everyday at the same hour (when the sun was going down) she went to the swings, where young Jubilee would filled her with many new and interesting questions.

"Do you like more coffee or chocolate?"

"If you could be an animal, what would you be?"

"Is... is true that Mr. McCoy is your brother?"

"Were you really at the Washington attack where the metal men threatened the President?"

"Do you really know Mystique?"

During that time, Mystique had became an heroine for the little mutants. In the telly, there were always programs talking about her, explaining how she had saved the President. Almost 5 years had passed.

"Yeah, she was my friend. She…"

"Is the Professor X always reading your mind?"

That was one of the things she liked the most of the girl. Even if she wanted to get deep into a conversation, Jubilee changed the topic. The girl never pushed her.

They used to spent like an hour like that, until the sky got dark.

"Did you know that today is Jean Grey's birthday?" The girl asked one day.

Rose got paralyzed and quickly walked towards Charles study. As she walked away of the swings, she heard Jubilee:

"Why are you leaving? Do you have something important to do? Are you going to the Professor? Am I being annoying?"

"Is it Jean's birthday?" Rose asked as soon as she walked in.

"Yes. I thought that you were going to come earlier" He said closing a book.

"Months have passed" She said putting her hands on her head "How much more do I have to wait?"

Charles sighted.

"I've…I've been working with her. " He moved his wheelchair towards her wife. "I won't lie to you. She's been stable for months, I thought that maybe it would be safer for you if…"

But he stopped himself when he saw Rose's face full of hurt. She had been waiting for him, to give her a signal so she could go back to her girl…

"Rosie…" He said but she had already left the study.

She didn't lost any time. She took one of the cakes they had, put some birthday candles on it and went to Jean's room. She was excited, finally she was going to be able to talk to her girl… She knocked, but she didn't wait for an answer and got in.

"Happy Birthday to you… Happy birthday to you" She saw the redheaded young lady reading a book on her bed. "Happy birthday, dear Jeannie. Happy birthday to you"

Rose had raised her since she was 8 years old, and every year she would call her Jeannie just so her name could rhyme with the birthday song.

"I thought you weren't going to come." Jean told her.

"I would never miss any of your birthdays, sweetheart" Rose told her with a motherly tone.

"You stopped coming…for months"

"I am so sorry…I…"

"You were busy…with the new girl…"

Rose walked to Jean's bed and sat on it. She put the little cake on the desk beside the bed.

"You changed me." Jean said.

The girl didn't look angry, she looked disappointed, and it made her feel guilty.

"I didn't." Rose shook her head.

"Professor Xavier asked you to stay away from me…"

Rose was about to reply but Jean touched one of Rose's temples.

"I can see it in your mind."

Rose breathed in and out.

"I'll never leave you alone again." Rose told her and shook her head. "These months have been a nightmare for me…I won't leave you again. I promise"

Slowly, a tiny smile was formed in Jean's face. Then she hugged Rose and Rose hugged her back.

"Wait!" Jean exclaimed breaking the hug. "The candles will melt over the cake!"

Rose took the cake and Jean turned off the candles. Before she left Rose promised Jean that she would take her out of classes the next day.

When Rose arrived at her room, Charles was there already. He was reading a book, but he stopped his lecture when he saw her coming.

"Rosie…"

She walked to him and sat in front of him.

"I don't want to fight Charles…"

"Neither I."

She got near him and he kissed her. First, slowly and sweet, then it became full of need and passion. Rose ended over Charles and they let their love consume them, just as they had since the night they got married.

Hours later Rose was laying under the bed's sheet, while Charles hugged her.

"Charles?"

"Mmm?"

"Can I take Jean out of classes tomorrow?"

Charles opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Was this a trap to make me accept it?"

"Did it work?" Rose playfully asked.

He gave her a smacking kiss on her cheek.

"Of course, but you know what I think of taking her out…"

"I've always taken her to the mall on her birthday!" She exclaimed and Charles rolled her eyes.

"If you wish it…"

Charles was starting to fall sleep when he felt Rose's hand touching his recently shaved chin.

"Can I take Jubilee too?" She asked.

"Oh my god, Rose…"


End file.
